Donald Trump in court battle with Apprentice star Summer Zervos over groping claim

Court battle: Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice, leaves New York's supreme court with attorney Gloria Allred
REUTERS
Rashid Razaq6 December 2017

Donald Trump’s lawyers have faced off in court against a former TV reality show star who is trying to sue the president for defamation, after he said claims he sexually assaulted her were “big lies”.

Summer Zervos has alleged Mr Trump groped her when she was a contestant on his American version of The Apprentice show in 2007. She launched a defamation case against him earlier this year after he accused her of lying during his presidential election campaign.

Mr Trump denies her allegations and branded her a politically-motivated liar, along with other women who have also accused him of sexual assault and harassment.

Restaurant owner Ms Zervos claims the president’s comments are defamatory and have harmed her and her business.

Donald Trump said the claims were 'big white lies'
AFP/Getty Images

Yesterday Mr Trump’s lawyers told New York state judge Jennifer Schecter that under the US constitution the court had no jurisdiction to summon a sitting president and the case should be dismissed.

The hour-long hearing was held in the New York state supreme court in Manhattan, where Ms Zervos’s lawyers, led by Gloria Allred, responded that there was no legal precedent preventing a state court from ruling on the conduct of a president outside his official duties.

They said she had suffered threats after Mr Trump publicly said she had “made up” her claims in an effort to help Hillary Clinton beat him in last year’s presidential race. The judge said she would make a ruling later.

If the case is allowed to proceed, Mr Trump could be compelled to testify and be ordered to hand over documents from his campaign related to other accusations of sexual impropriety against him.

President Bill Clinton was impeached on sexual harassment charges in 1998 after the Monica Lewinsky affair but was cleared by the Senate.

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