Trump Asks Judge to Dismiss Accuser’s Defamation Case
- Apprentice contestant sued after he called her a liar on TV
- President seeks evidence-gathering delay until his tenure ends
Summer Zervos, right, a former contestant on "The Apprentice" arrives with lawyer Gloria Allred at the New York County Criminal Court on Dec. 5, 2017, in New York.
Photographer: KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images
As the rest of the U.S. wrestles with holding sexual harassers to account, President Donald Trump is seeking to silence one of his most vocal critics -- a former contestant on his reality TV show who accused him of groping her and sued him for calling her a liar.
At a crowded Manhattan courtroom Tuesday, his lawyer asked a New York state judge to dismiss a defamation case by Summer Zervos, a contender on "The Apprentice" in 2005 who alleges he “ambushed” her without her consent on more than one occasion starting in 2007, kissing her on the mouth, touching her breast and pressing his genitals against her.