Ex-Apprentice contestant sues Trump over sex assault claims
Just three days before he’s sworn in as the new US President...
A FORMER contestant on Donald Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice revealed last night that she is suing him for allegedly lying about sexually assaulting her.
Just three days before the president-elect’s inauguration, Summer Zervos filed a defamation lawsuit against him in New York seeking to make him accountable for the damage she claims he has caused her.
She and her lawyer, Gloria Allred, accused the president-elect of ‘unwanted sexual touching’ in incidents that date back to 2007 – although she is not suing him for sexual assault.
Miss Zervos probably would not be able to do so because of a statute of limitations against allegations that date back so far.
The lawyer last night said that her client had taken a lie detector test which proved she is telling the truth. In November, Miss Zervos tearfully alleged that Mr Trump had kissed and touched her without her consent during encoun- ters in New York and Los Angeles. She claimed that after competing on his reality show, she approached him looking for job opportunities.
The first time they met, in New York City, the businessman kissed her on the lips, leaving her ‘nervous and embarrassed’, she said.
He later allegedly invited her to dinner while staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles where he began kissing her ‘open-mouthed’ in his hotel room. She added: ‘He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast. I pulled back and walked to another part of the room. He then walked up, he grabbed my hand and walked me into the bedroom.’
After he tried repeatedly to embrace and kiss her again, ignoring her protests, she finally convinced him to stop, she claims.
Mr Trump denied the accusations, as he did those of a dozen other women who accused him of sexual assaults or making unwanted sexual advances. He called Miss Zervos a liar and threat- ened to sue her after the election – though he never did. Miss Allred shrugged off suggestions that the lawsuit was timed to cause maximum damage to him, saying they had given him two months to retract his attacks on her client.
‘Women are not a footnote to history,’ she told a Press conference in Los Angeles. The lawyer suggested she may try to subpoena unaired and unedited footage from The Apprentice amid speculation that Mr Trump has been filmed making more outrageous remarks.
The bombshell from Miss Zervos came as Mr Trump yesterday insisted supporters were ‘pouring’ into Washington for his inauguration. Plans for the ceremony have been plagued by performers and congressmen refusing to attend.
Officials estimate up to 900,000 will be in the capital for the celebrations – half the total that piled in for Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009. The event is traditionally seen as a celebration of the peaceful transition of power rather than simply a party for the new president, but one in five Democrats in the House of Representatives have said they will not attend.
Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: ‘People are pouring into Washington in record numbers.’
‘Kissing me very aggressively’