Trump may have to testify in The Apprentice lawsuit
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge set deadlines that could make President Donald Trump answer questions under oath by early next year in a former “Apprentice” contestant’s defamation suit, while Trump’s lawyers pushed back Tuesday on 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 slurring her by calling her a liar. Already, her lawyers have 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 shouldn’t have to turn over any material about other women. It’s “irrelevant,” he said. Not so, said Zervos’ attorney, 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.
Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter didn’t settle that dispute Tuesday but began setting various deadlines, including Jan. 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.
Presidential depositions have a memorable history: During a 1998 deposition in a sexual harassment case filed by Paula Jones, then President Bill Clinton denied a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton’s denial eventually led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice; the Senate ultimately acquitted him.
It’s too soon to say for sure when Trump might have to submit to questioning. His lawyers plan to argue to a state appeals court this fall that a sitting president can’t be sued in a state court.