As you may have heard, immediately following his latest arraignment, this in connection with his indictment on 37 federal criminal charges, Donald Trump visited Miami’s Versailles restaurant. There, he was heard to shout, “Food for everyone!” According to The Guardian (and innumerable other sources), this was a “promise that the former US president did not keep.” Mr. Trump did not pay for anybody’s food.
Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman, who should have better things to do with their time, reported in The New York Times that Mr. Trump did not even eat any of the food his staff purchased at Versailles. Once aboard his plane and headed to New Jersey, Mr. Trump instead dined on McDonald’s. Maggie Haberman may have won a Pulitzer Prize, but the New York Post‘s Josh Christenson provides better coverage on this story, reporting that, according to an unnamed spokesperson for the Trump Campaign, “Campaign advance team members paid for the to-go meals purchased, and there were no unpaid tabs.” In addition, the spokesperson reportedly said, “At the end of President Trump’s visit he offered to buy food for the group of attendees inside the restaurant, but when President Trump left, the attendees followed him outside and did not place orders themselves.”
When I represent Trump in this breach of contract action, I’m going to have to have some words with this spokesperson (or perhaps by then former-spokesperson) before we head to depositions. The spokesperson mis-spoke and will have to clarify what really happened.
First, The Guardian draws legal conclusions without a factual basis. Mr. Trump promised nothing, nor did he offer to buy food for anyone. He simply said, “Food for everyone!” The statement is ambiguous. The man is campaigning for President, so he may have been making a chicken-in-every-pot type statement about how, once America is great again, there will be food for everyone. He might have been remarking on the wonders of Versailles and the variety of offerings on hand. His statement might have been a shorthand for “This place is amazing; you have food for everyone!” Remember, the man built a political legacy on Twitter. He understands that brevity is the soul of wit. It might have been a general observation equivalent to saying “Food is great!”
It would be absurd to characterize his statement as an offer to buy food for everyone. At the very most, as the soon-to-be former spokesman suggested, Mr. Trump was encouraging his staff to patronize Versailles. Some did so, buying meals to-go and paying for them. Only a deranged media would try to create a story out of some staffers buying food at a restaurant during a campaign stop. Nobody else took Mr. Trump up on his offer, and so he made no promise, broke no promise, and is the victim of the biggest witch hunt in the annals of contracts law.
Moreover, even if his statement were mistakenly construed as a promise, it was not a binding one, as the attendees gave no consideration in exchange for it. Like the word “covfefe” and many other things that Mr. Trump has bestowed upon us, this was, if anything, a gift. Nor could anybody plausibly bring a promissory estoppel claim against Mr. Trump, because there was no reliance. The people who heard the words “food for everyone” were in a bakery. They did need any inducement to buy baked goods. That’s what they were there for in the first place.
So to sum up. No promise. No breach. No contract. No reliance. Witch hunt.
