State’s highest court tosses Trump’s appeal
Former President Donald Trump could face questioning under oath about a former “Apprentice” contestant’s sexual assault allegations against him, following a ruling from New York’s highest court Tuesday.
Evidence-gathering has been on hold in Summer Zervos’ defamation lawsuit since Trump asked the high court last year to declare that the presidency protected him from being sued in state courts. In a one-sentence ruling, the Court of Appeals tossed Trump’s appeal as moot now that he’s out of the White House.
Lawyers for the woman had asked the high court to nix the appeal and return her defamation suit to a trial court for both sides to continue pretrial evidence-seeking.
“Now a private citizen, the defendant has no further excuse to delay justice for Ms. Zervos, and we are eager to get back to the trial court and prove her claims,” lawyers Beth Wilkinson and Moira Penza said Tuesday.
Zervos is suing Trump for calling her a liar after she went public during his 2016 campaign with allegations that he subjected her to unwanted kissing and groping twice in 2007. She had appeared on his reality show “The Apprentice” in 2006 and said she was looking only for career advice when she contacted him afterward.
She sued after he retweeted a message calling her claims “a hoax” and described women who accused him of sexual assault and harassment as “liars” trying to hurt his presidential chances.
Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz has said the former president’s statements were true and protected by free speech rights and that Zervos’ claims are meritless.