Names and faces
Attorneys for Summer Zervos, a California restaurateur who appeared in 2006 on President Donald Trump’s former reality show, The Apprentice are still waiting for a New York state judge to rule whether Trump should answer questions as part of her defamation lawsuit against him. During a pretrial hearing Tuesday, New York state Judge Jennifer Schecter rejected the latest bid by Trump’s lawyers to put the case on hold until after his presidency ends while also delaying a ruling on whether Trump can be questioned. However, the judge did set a schedule for parties to exchange materials and file submissions with the court, including directing the two sides to submit depositions — sworn questioning out of court — of Trump and Zervos by a Jan. 31 deadline. Zervos says Trump subjected her to unwanted kissing and groping when she sought career advice in 2007. Zervos sued Trump in January 2017 in New York state court claiming he defamed her when he said she lied about the encounters. Zervos, who met with Trump in hopes of securing a job after her Apprentice appearance in 2005, is one of at least 19 women who have come forward accusing him of sexual misconduct. Trump has denied the claims. His lawyers have also asked a New York appeals court to put Zervos’ suit on hold after Schecter rejected an earlier claim that a sitting president can’t be sued in a state court.
Comedian Kathy Griffin is being honored by the city of West Hollywood for raising more than $5 million for HIV/ AIDS services and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer causes. On Tuesday, city officials presented Griffin with a Rainbow Key Award as part of an annual ceremony honoring individuals who have made contributions to the LGBTQ community. Griffin is in the midst of a comeback after the uproar after she posed for a photo shoot while holding a fake severed Donald Trump head in May 2017. Griffin,who lost her New Year’s Eve hosting duties at CNN and has been ostracized by many in Hollywood, apologized, but later retracted it. The comedian addressed the fallout of the image, which included death threats and lost jobs, in an interview with The Associated Press in April before she embarked on a North American tour. West Hollywood is a city of 36,000 between Los Angeles’ Hollywood neighborhood and Beverly Hills.