Sex assault claims: Trump campaign subpoenaed

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s campaign has been subpoenaed as part of a defamation suit for documents related to sexual assault allegations that emerged during his run for president, according to a court document.

The lawsuit by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trump’s reality TV show “The Apprentice,” says he made “numerous false, defamatory statements” in response to her allegations that he tried to kiss and grope her without her consent.

The subpoena, which was issued in March but filed September 19, directs the Trump campaign and its affiliates to hand over documents on Zervos and her associates as well as on “any woman alleging that Donald J Trump touched her inappropriately.”

It also seeks documents on “any accusations” made during Trump’s election campaign that he “subjected any woman to unwanted sexual touching and/ or sexually inappropriate behavior,” and on the president’s responses to allegations against him.

The subpoena, which previously not been made public, was first reported by Buzzfeed News. Zervos said last year that Trump had made unwanted sexual advances toward her when she met him at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles in 2007 to discuss career opportunities.

Trump moved toward her aggressively during the encounter and touched her on the breast but she rebuffed him, she alleged.

AP Secretary of state Rex Tillerson (left) insisted that tensions with Donald Trump were not hindering his mission as the nation’s top diplomat, all while ducking, dancing and sidestepping the question of whether he truly called the US president a “moron.”