US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP
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https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2149424/trump-lawyers-argue-apprentice-contestant-summer United States & Canada
Donald Trump could face questioning by next year in defamation suit by ‘Apprentice’ contestant Summer Zervos
A judge in New York set a January 31 deadline that could make Trump answer questions under oath
Summer Zervos (right), a former contestant on ‘The Apprentice’, leaves New York Supreme Court with lawyer Gloria Allred last year after a hearing on the defamation case against US President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters
US President Donald Trump could be made to answer questions under oath by early next year in a former Apprentice contestant’s defamation suit, a judge announced on Tuesday, while his lawyers pushed back against demands for information on his campaign’s discussions about other women who also accused him of sexual misconduct.
Trump’s legal team continues to try to get Summer Zervos’ defamation lawsuit dismissed or delayed until after his presidency. But at least for now, it’s moving into an information-gathering phase that could involve key disclosures – and put both Trump and Zervos under questioning by each other’s lawyers.
Zervos accuses Trump of defaming her by calling her a liar after she accused him of groping her breasts, kissing her and thrusting his genitals at her without her permission.
Her lawyers have already issued subpoenas seeking a range of information, including any records concerning his 2016 campaign’s responses to Zervos’ and other women’s accusations of inappropriate sexual behaviour. Trump has vehemently denied them all as made-up.
At a court hearing Tuesday, Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz said the campaign should not have to turn over any material about other women. It’s “irrelevant”, he said.
Not so, said Zervos’ lawyer, Mariann Wang.
“It’s a defamation case, so we are required to prove the falsity of the statements, and his statements include statements about other women,” she said outside court.
State Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter didn’t settle that dispute on Tuesday but began setting various deadlines, including January 31 for any depositions of Trump and Zervos. Lawyers for each have indicated they want to depose the other’s client. If they do, each side will have up to seven hours.
Despite the deadline, it’s too soon to say for sure when Trump might have to submit to questioning. His lawyers plan to argue to a state appeal court this fall that a sitting president can’t be sued in a state court, and Kasowitz indicated on Tuesday that the question could end up at the US Supreme Court.
He also said Trump might seek extensions on various case deadlines because of the “significant attendant duties” of the presidency.
Zervos, a California restaurateur, appeared in 2006 on Trump’s former reality show, The Apprentice. She says he subjected her to unwanted kissing and groping when she sought career advice in 2007.
She was among more than a dozen women who came forward late in the 2016 presidential campaign to say that Trump had sexually harassed or assaulted them.
Trump denied all the claims, saying they were “100 per cent fabricated” and “totally false” and his accusers were “liars”. He specifically contested Zervos’ allegations in a statement and retweeted a message that included her photo and described her claims as a “hoax”.
Zervos says his words hurt her reputation, harmed her business and led to threats against her. She is seeking a retraction, an apology and compensatory and punitive damages.
Trump’s lawyers have said his statements were true, and also that his remarks were “non-defamatory opinions” that came amid the heated public debate of a national political campaign.
Summer Zervos is seem during a press conference in October 2016. Photo: Los Angeles Times via TNS
Besides the campaign records, Zervos’ lawyers have subpoenaed other information including any Apprentice material that features Trump talking about Zervos or discussing other female contestants in a sexual or inappropriate way.
Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, are seeking a court order to keep some documents and information private. The details are yet to be worked out.
Such confidentiality agreements, meant to facilitate the exchange of information between opposing sides, aren’t uncommon.
Wang said Trump’s lawyers initially signalled they wanted to seal a swathe of filings in the case, but Kasowitz said on Tuesday that they would narrow their request.