The scene outside Trump International Hotel. (Photo by Alex Kaufman)

A D.C. restaurant and events space is suing President Donald Trump and his company for unfair competition.

Khalid Pitts and Diane Gross, the married couple that owns Cork Wine Bar, say that the president’s Old Post Office Hotel and its restaurants have an unfair advantage over all of the other D.C. establishments because business advocates, lobbyists, foreign dignitaries, and more want to curry favor with Trump.

“This is about local D.C.—about our local business and other local businesses,” said Pitts. “This is a business lawsuit.”

In a press conference on Thursday morning at the National Press Club, Pitts and Gross announced the lawsuit in a room packed with journalists. They were surrounded by four lawyers—Scott Rome, Cork’s business attorney; Mark Zaid; and George Washington University professors Alan Morrison and Steven Schooner.

The couple, who opened Cork a decade ago, cited a downturn in events bookings around the inauguration. They’re not seeking monetary damages. Instead, they want a court order that will force Trump to divest from the hotel. Other ways to remedy the situation that lawyers floated included Trump closing the Old Post Office Hotel or resigning.

Alan Garten, chief legal officer for the Trump Organization, said the suit was “a wild publicity stunt completely lacking in legal merit” in an email to BuzzFeed News.

The General Services Administration owns the Old Post Office Building, a historic property on Pennsylvania Avenue. The Trump Organization signed a 60-year lease with the GSA in 2013. The lease states that “No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.”

Already, House Democrats have seized on this language as a way to raise concerns about alleged conflicts of interest and call on Trump to divest.

Technically, the president’s son, Donald J. Trump Jr., is now in control of the Trump Old Post Office LLC, but that doesn’t resolve all potential conflicts of interest. Trump still has an ownership stake in the company and his name appears on the front.

In its first two months of business, the Dems say, the Old Post Office Hotel lost more than $1 million in net income. However, the hotel has been booked since. “The possibility that President Trump will profit from large increases in hotel revenues because he was elected President highlights the grave concerns we have raised for months about his conflicts of interest,” House Democrats wrote in a letter to the General Services Administration.

Thursday morning press conference about the lawsuit against Trump. Left to right: GW law professor Steven Schooner, lead counsel Scott Rome, plaintiffs Diane Gross and Khalid Pitts of Cork Wine Bar, lead counsel Mark Zaid, and GW law professor Alan Morrison. (Photo by Rachel Kurzius)

Media reports continue to show how different business lobbies and foreign dignitaries use Trump properties as a way to gain access to Trump and his cabinet, at least one of whom currently lives there.

The lawsuit says that a significant amount of Cork’s business comes from serving people who have business with or seek to influence the U.S. government. Those people now feel “it would be to their advantage in their dealings with President Donald J. Trump and other agencies of the United States government if they patronized the hotel,” the suit says, noting that marketing for the hotel, the Trump family, and staffers have all said as much.

“Why wouldn’t I stay at his hotel blocks from the White House, so I can tell the new president, ‘I love your new hotel!’ Isn’t it rude to come to his city and say, ‘I am staying at your competitor?’” one diplomat told The Washington Post.

And while no one has been that explicit in their wording to Pitts and Gross, the couple says that it’s clear the Old Post Office is cutting into their bottom line.

“There was definitely a substantive difference in the dining and the event revenue,” Gross tells DCist. “I’ve talked to different restaurants. There’s a feeling that [the Old Post Office Hotel is] attracting a lot of business because of who they are and their proximity to the president and to elected officials, and even cabinet members who are staying there, and that causes concern.”

Cork feels the loss most in decreasing lobbyist receptions and dinners, and political fundraisers, according to the lawsuit. “These events are particularly lucrative for the hotel, as they are for Cork, because of the ability of the hotel to set prices without regard to an advertised price for its restaurants and bars.”

While Gross is a registered Democrat and Pitts is an independent who ran for the D.C. Council in 2014 describing himself as “an independent person with Democratic values,” they maintain that this is not about politics. “It doesn’t have to do with any of Trump’s policies,” she says. “It has to do with unfair competition. It’s a business case.”

But even if it is just about business, they’re still suing the most powerful man in the world. That comes with its own risks and logistical issues. For instance, as a named defendant, Trump must be served with the suit. The legal team is currently trying to figure out how they can accomplish this without getting a court marshal involved, though they’re willing to do that.

“This is so unchartered,” says Gross. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, which is probably one of the reasons we were willing to take a bit of a risk.”

This isn’t the only lawsuit for International Trump Hotel. D.C. restauranteurs Jose Andrés and Geoffrey Zakarian are both embroiled in suits after they pulled out of projects at the site. However, those are unrelated to Cork’s claims. Additionally, ethics experts filed a lawsuit accusing Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which states that federal officials can’t get paid by foreign governments. Cork’s suit relies on D.C. law rather than the Constitution.

While Cork is the only plaintiff for now, Pitts and Gross are open to other parties joining the suit. “I would welcome other restaurants to join in and be a part of this,” says Gross.

Final Version Complaint by Rachel Kurzius on Scribd

This post has been updated.