Donald Trump was forced off the campaign trail in June to testify in a lawsuit involving celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian. | Getty Video of Trump deposition could go public soon The footage of Trump being questioned in a high-profile restaurant dispute would provide fodder for attack ads.

Video of Donald Trump being questioned under oath about his heated rhetoric on immigration could become public soon in connection with a lawsuit he filed over the collapse of a deal to open a restaurant at his D.C. hotel.

Trump was forced off the campaign trail in June to testify in the suit stemming from restaurateur and celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian's decision to back out of a lease to open a restaurant at the Trump International Hotel set to open next month in the historic Old Post Office Building in Washington.


Transcripts filed in D.C. Superior Court Friday show Trump accused Zakarian and popular D.C. area chef Jose Andres of "grandstanding" when they canceled their planned eateries, claiming they were outraged over Trump's harsh rhetoric on immigration in his presidential announcement speech last year.

"If they would have gotten out very quietly I think it would have been better for everybody. They caused me damages," Trump said during the two-hour session at a Washington law office. "They made such a big deal out of it. And they didn't have to....They wanted to be they thought politically correct by doing what they did. I think they made a mistake."

Last month, San Diego-based U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel spared Trump similar exposure by rejecting a media bid to obtain videos of depositions he gave in connection with federal fraud lawsuits over his Trump University real estate program.

But the judge in the restaurant dispute — D.C. Superior Court Judge Brian Holeman — appears more open to publicly exposing the video depositions in that case. He already turned down Trump's request to seal the video and, in so doing, may be providing fodder for Hillary Clinton's campaign and other foes eager to exploit the footage for attack ads.

The video expected to be released in the Washington suit contains exchanges in which Trump is questioned about his sharp attacks on Curiel, including Trump's claim that the U.S.-born Latino judge was biased against him due to the judge's ethnicity.

"You mentioned specifically his Mexican heritage. Correct?" Zakarian lawyer Deborah Baum asked.

"Yes," Trump responded. "I've been treated very unfairly. But we'll see what happens."

Trump and his team seem to have been prepared for the questions. When compared with his contentious sparring with lawyers in the Trump University depositions, the real estate mogul seemed unusually measured in his responses.

Nevertheless, one of his attorneys quickly chimed in to interrupt.

"Objection. Hold on. Hold on a second," Trump lawyer Rebecca Woods said, asking Baum to explain the connection to the restaurant case. "You're trolling for something that, frankly, might eventually be leaked to the media....Bring these questions into a relevancy zone."

"We have no intention of leaking anything to the media," Baum responded.

As the exchange continued, Trump inveighed against "extremely inflammatory" statements from the Latino advocacy group La Raza. He also seemed to try to shift the discussion from illegal Mexican immigrants taking jobs and committing sexual assaults in the U.S., to American trade policies allowing Mexico to outmaneuver the U.S. by moving factories south of the border.

"I'm fighting to keep jobs out of Mexico. I'm fighting to have Mexico not take our businesses away from us. Mexico is taking our businesses like we're children," Trump complained.

Zakarian's lawyer suggested Trump's comments had dimmed the prospects for the planned hotel and, by extension, the restaurant Zakarian planned to open.

"Do you think that Judge Curiel would patronize a Trump property?" she asked.

"I don't know. I—you would have to ask him," Trump replied.

The immigration-related exchanges may make for less compelling attack ads than the Trump University depositions would have offered. Those involve claims Trump was directly involved in scamming students, some of whom were in difficult financial straits, while the suits Trump filed against successful chefs Zakarian and Andres are more typical business disputes played out against the backdrop of polarizing campaign rhetoric.

Nevertheless, Trump's team has fought to keep the video out of the public domain. Trump's lawyers filed a motion seeking to keep the video under seal, but D.C. Superior Court Judge Holeman denied that request.

"Counsel for Landlord has worked to avoid transforming a breach of contract lawsuit into a three-ring circus that is tried in the media and the 'court of public opinion,'" Woods wrote in a motion filed last week. She cited Curiel's decision not to release the Trump University videos. "Videotapes are subject to abuse," she warned.

However, Holeman—an appointee of President George W. Bush—seemed unimpressed by those arguments.

"Plaintiff filed suit against Defendants seeking ten million dollars ($10,000,000.00) in damages....Nevertheless, Plaintiff repeatedly seeks to prevent inquiry into or disclosure of available and relevant evidence, including the testimony of Mr. Trump, an active participant in the business transactions at issue," the judge wrote in an order Thursday. "The public’s interest is heightened in an action involving a candidate seeking public office....Plaintiff is not entitled to the requested relief."

Zakarian's legal team declined to comment Monday. Woods, Trump's lawyer, also declined to comment.

The judge's ruling on the video issue should not have caught either side by surprise: Holeman issued an order last month requiring that transcripts of all depositions cited in legal briefs be filed in their entirety with the court, effectively making them public. Usually, only the cited excerpts of such out-of-court testimony are filed.

Barring some charge of heart by Holeman or a move to appeal to a higher court, release of the videos seems likely. A court spokeswoman had no immediate comment Monday when asked about plans for release of the videos.