The former owner and former CEO of a New York restaurant are pushing back at President Trump using claims about a renovation there in comparison to the war in Afghanistan, Page Six reported on Monday.

During a meeting with his national security team last month, Trump reportedly complained to officials that the war in Afghanistan was not going as he expected.

“We aren't winning. We are losing,” Trump reportedly said while pushing for Gen. John Nicholson, who is overseeing the war, to be replaced.





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Trump also compared the war to the renovation of New York’s 21 Club restaurant in the 1980s, claiming that the owner of the 21 Club lost money and a year of business after hiring an expensive consultant who recommended getting a bigger kitchen, something the waiters could have suggested.

But the former CEO and former owner of the restaurant are disputing those claims.

“I have no idea what was in his head. I never have,” Marshall Cogan, who owned the restaurant from 1985 to 1995, told Page Six.

The CEO of the restaurant from 1986 to 1995, Ken Aretsky, also told Page Six that no consultant was ever hired for the renovation and the renovation took less than six months.

“I’m proud of the job I did at ‘21.’ I got a great kick out of reading about Trump’s comparison of our renovation to the war in Afghanistan, but everything he said is wrong,” Aretsky told Page Six.