USA TODAY International Edition
Trump claims immunity from lawsuit
Contestant from ‘ Apprentice’ alleges groping, defamation
President Trump’s private attorneys asserted in court this week that he should be immune from a defamation lawsuit filed against him because of his presidential duties.
Summer Zervos, a former contestant from The Apprentice TV show, sued Trump in New York on Jan. 17, days before the presidential inauguration. In October, she accused Trump of kissing and groping her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2007. Trump denied the accusation, and in a series of tweets, he called the sexual misconduct allegations “100% fabricated and made- up charges,” “totally false” and “totally made- up nonsense.”
Zervos’ attorney, Gloria Allred, demanded a retraction, to no avail. So she sued. Zervos’ lawsuit claims the alleged defamation was “detrimental to Ms. Zervos’ reputation, honor and dignity.”
Trump’s attorneys said in this week’s court filing that the supremacy clause of the U. S. Constitution should bar the lawsuit since it could “distract a president from his public duties to the detriment of not only the president and his office but also the nation.”
Legal scholars predicted a collision of private lawsuits from Trump’s life before the presidency once he took office. A USA TODAY investigation found about 75 such lawsuits pending as Trump began his presidency. The Zervos case will probably rely on standards
set in 1997 in Clinton v. Jones, a Supreme Court case involving President Clinton, which clearly says presidents are not immune from private litigation while in office. In that case, Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, accused Clinton of sexual harassment.
Trump’s attorneys said the Clinton case left unresolved some issues, such as dismissing a case based on its likelihood to distract the presidency. Attorney Marc Kasowitz said he would soon file a motion to dismiss the case and ask for an apology and $ 2,914.
In a statement Tuesday, Allred said the president “does not enjoy legal immunity from our defamation lawsuit.”
“The United States Supreme Court addressed this legal immunity issue in Clinton v. Jones and determined unanimously that no man is above the law, and that includes the president of the United States,” Allred said. “We look forward to arguing this issue in court.”
“Because of the Supreme Court case related to Bill Clinton, there’s no automatic shield for the president from civil action,” Samuel Issacharoff, a law professor at New York University, told USA TODAY in November. “If he were president and called to testify and hostilities break out in the Middle East, a court would probably postpone — but of course, it’s a major dislocation to be going through these civil trials while he’s running an administration.”
Clinton wasn’t the first president to be challenged with a suit over his life before the presidency. In 1962, President Kennedy was sued in California for his role in a traffic incident at the 1960 Democratic National Convention. Kennedy settled for $ 17,500 after a judge ruled he could be sued like any other citizen.
Trump and his companies have sued or been sued more than 4,000 times over the past four decades, according to a USA TODAY review of records in federal and state courts coast to coast.
“The United States Supreme Court addressed this legal immunity issue in ‘ Clinton v. Jones’ and determined unanimously that no man is above the law, and that includes the president of the United States. We look forward to arguing this issue in court.” Gloria Allred, Summer Zervos’ attorney