Judge to rule if Trump can be sued, in sex harassment case
NEW YORK: Can the US president be sued for defamation?
A New York judge began hearing arguments on the issue Tuesday and must decide whether Summer Zervos, who accused President Donald Trump of sexual harassment, can pursue the case in civil court.
Trump is asking for the case to be dismissed.
Zervos was a candidate on the TV reality show ‘ The Apprentice’, which Trump hosted from 2004 to 2015.
During his campaign for president last October, Zervos alleged 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.
She alleged Trump moved toward her aggressively during the encounter and touched her on the breast but she rebuffed him.
Zervos filed suit in January, three days before Trump’s inauguration.
Trump is a “liar and misogynist” who has “debased and denigrated Zervos with false statements about her,” the lawsuit alleges.
“All I can say is it’s totally fake news. It’s fake and made-up stuff and it’s disgraceful what happens, but that happens in the world of politics,” Trump responded in October, after his campaign was subpoenaed as part of Zervos’s lawsuit.
On Tuesday, Judge Jennifer Schecter heard arguments from Marc Kasowitz, one of the lawyers for the billionaire president, who is seeking dismissal of the case.
Kasowitz invoked a clause of the US constitution, saying the states “can’t exercise any control over the president.”
He also referred to the sexual harassment lawsuit made by Paula Jones against then-president Bill Clinton in 1994.
According to Kasowitz, that case enshrined federal supremacy over state jurisdiction. A federal judge dismissed Jones’ lawsuit but Clinton later reached an out- of- court settlement with her. — AFP