Trump urges dismissal of former 'Apprentice' contestant's lawsuit
By Rosalind S. Helderman July 7 at 11:04 PM
Arguing in part that a U.S. president cannot be sued in state court while serving in office, lawyers for President Trump in a court filing late Friday called for the dismissal of a complaint from a former contestant on the “Apprentice” television show who claims the president sexually harassed her a decade ago.
Summer Zervos, a California restaurant owner who appeared on the reality show in 2006, filed suit against Trump in January in New York, alleging Trump defamed her during the presidential campaign when he said her sexual harassment complaints were false.
Zervos had accused Trump of aggressively kissing and grabbing her when she went to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss a possible job at the Trump Organization a year after she participated in the reality show that he hosted.
In a 53-page memo, Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz argued Zervos’ allegations were false from the start, intended to hurt Trump’s presidential campaign, and asserted her lawsuit now is merely an attempt to force Trump to submit to intrusive evidentiary discovery that could hurt his presidency. Zervos’ attorney, Gloria Allred, has said she would seek to take Trump’s testimony under oath as part of the lawsuit and could look for other evidence, including possible “Apprentice” outtakes showing his behavior on the show’s set.
Kasowitz, who is also representing Trump in ongoing probes of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, also wrote that the president can only be sued through the federal court system while in office and any state action should be dismissed or postponed until after he leaves office.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/07/trump-urges-dismissal-of-apprentice-contestants-lawsuit/
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