Trump accuser sues for defamation
A former contestant from The Apprentice filed a defamation lawsuit Tuesday against President-elect Donald Trump in a New York court.
Summer Zervos came forward in October to accuse Trump of kissing and groping her in 2007 at a Beverly Hills hotel room. When Trump denied the accusations, Zervos’s attorney Gloria Allred demanded a retraction.
Since no retraction has been issued, “time’s up,” Allred said at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Zervos publicly accused Trump on Oct. 14 along with several other women alleging sexual misconduct by Trump in the wake of the release of a tape from the show Access Hollywood on Oct. 7, in which Trump talked about groping women, and his statements to CNN’s Anderson Cooper during the Oct. 9 presidential debate.
“I would like the president-elect to decide he’s going to do the right thing in reference to Ms. Zervos,” Allred said. “If he’ll simply retract his statements and acknowledge his conduct with Ms. Zervos, she will dismiss the case.”
Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks issued a statement Tuesday denying the claim.
"More of the same from Gloria Allred. There is no truth to this absurd story," Hicks said.
In October, Trump tweeted several times about the sexual misconduct accusations, calling them“100% fabricated and made-up charges,” “totally false” and “totally made up nonsense.”
Zervos’s attorney was asked if the case could lead to Trump’s impeachment with echoes of the Paula Jones case and President Bill Clinton. She responded that a GOP-led Congress would have some tough choices and have to “put partisanship aside, and apply the same standards to President Trump.”
Allred said they would seek to depose Trump about the incident and lawsuit where he would have to testify under oath. Allred also said they would seek “outtakes of Trump’s recorded words” from The Apprentice.
When asked about the timing of the filings the week of Trump’s inauguration, Allred responded: “Why now? My response is why not now? … It takes a great deal of courage to sue the most powerful man on the planet.”
Last week, Trump beat another defamation suit filed by a GOP political consultant, also in New York court.
Zervos’s legal filing claims the alleged defamation was “detrimental to Ms. Zervos’s reputation, honor and dignity,” but doesn’t put a monetary figure on compensatory or punitive damages.
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