--- title: Donald Trump Deposition: He Feared Video Could Become Ad description: A video was released Friday of Donald Trump testifying under oath about his inflammatory rhetoric about Hispanics and immigrants. canonical: https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-30T18:16:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:07.301Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's the Video Trump Worried Would Be Used in a Campaign Ad og:description: It's from his deposition in a lawsuit. og:url: https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a847c86fd91c4ee/6988a7bc428a9e31fecd468c/trump14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pauses during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Video Trump Worried Would Be Used in a Campaign Ad twitter:description: It's from his deposition in a lawsuit. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a847c86fd91c4ee/6988a7bc428a9e31fecd468c/trump14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the Video Donald Trump Worried Would Be Used in a Campaign Ad > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Donald Trump's Comments on Mexico [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump's Comments on Mexico](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HHRjXYzl.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2016-08-31. Donald Trump kicked off his presidential bid more than a year ago with harsh words for Mexico. “They are not our friend, believe me,” he said, before disparaging Mexican immigrants._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 30, 2016 6:16 PM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pauses during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pauses during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 2016. Drew Angerer—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 30, 2016 6:16 PM UTC [A video](https://www.buzzfeed.com/danielwagner/trump-video-depositions?bftwnews&utm%5Fterm=.yc11rX0JWr#.dbGB7PnyZ7) was released Friday of Donald Trump testifying under oath about his inflammatory rhetoric about Hispanics and immigrants, despite his lawyers’ arguments that it could be used in a campaign ad. Trump gave the deposition in June in connection with a lawsuit he filed in 2015 after chef [Geoffrey Zakarian pulled out of plans](http://time.com/3952709/donald-trump-chefs-deals/?iid=sr-link1) to open a restaurant in Trump’s [new D.C. hotel](http://time.com/4496804/donald-trump-post-office-hotel/?iid=sr-link1). A D.C. Superior Court judge ruled the release of the video Thursday after Trump’s lawyers requested it stayed sealed over fears the content could be subject to “partisan editing,” [Politico reports](http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/09/trump-deposition-video-release-schedule-228953). In [the deposition](http://static.politico.com/1e/84/efc8ae7f4f2eb374f3dd87792cb6/ex-a-donald-trump-dep.pdf), Trump says his victory in the primary is proof that his comments about Hispanics are not offensive. (When Zakarian pulled out of the deal, he said Trump’s “statements surrounding Mexican immigrants… do not in any way align with my personal core values.”) “I’m running for office. I obviously have credibility because I now, as it turns out, became the Republican nominee running against, we have a total of 17 people that were mostly senators and governors, highly respected people,” Trump said about his past statements. “So it’s not like, you know, like I’ve said anything that could be so bad. Because if I said something that was so bad, they wouldn’t have had me go through all of these people and win all of these primary races.” Trump also said he thinks his hardline stance on immigration could have actually helped Zakarian’s business had he opened his restaurant in the new Trump hotel as planned. At one point the questioner tells Trump he has “definitely tapped into something.” “Right?” Trump replies. “It’s possible that I’ll help him as opposed to hurt him. … Because you just said it. I mean, I’ve tapped into something. And I’ve tapped into illegal immigration. I’ve tapped into other things, also.” While Trump maintains multiple times over the course of the testimony that he thinks his controversial language and policy positions could help his businesses, he does acknowledge that Hispanic people could be less likely to visit his hotels or eat at restaurants in his properties. “It is always possible,” he says. “I just don’t know. I mean, I don’t know how to answer that question. It’s possible.” You can watch the full deposition on [BuzzFeed](https://www.buzzfeed.com/danielwagner/trump-video-depositions?bftwnews&utm%5Fterm=.yc11rX0JWr#.dbGB7PnyZ7). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/"},"headline":"Here's the Video Donald Trump Worried Would Be Used in a Campaign Ad","datePublished":"2016-09-30T18:16:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:07.301Z","description":"A video was released Friday of Donald Trump testifying under oath about his inflammatory rhetoric about Hispanics and immigrants.","url":"https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a847c86fd91c4ee/6988a7bc428a9e31fecd468c/trump14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a847c86fd91c4ee/6988a7bc428a9e31fecd468c/trump14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pauses during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 2016.","caption":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pauses during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 2016.","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/","name":"Here's the Video Donald Trump Worried Would Be Used in a Campaign Ad"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump's Comments on Mexico","description":"Donald Trump kicked off his presidential bid more than a year ago with harsh words for Mexico. “They are not our friend, believe me,” he said, before disparaging Mexican immigrants.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HHRjXYzl/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-08-31T15:48:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HHRjXYzl.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/","duration":"PT1M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4515073/donald-trump-deposition-hotel-restaurant/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```