Trump called woman who says he groped her, phone records show
More than a decade ago, Donald Trump made phone calls from his cellphone to a former candidate on “The Apprentice” around the same time that she says he sexually assaulted her, according to phone records made public Tuesday.
The excerpts from Trump’s Verizon cellphone bills over a three-month period in 2007 and 2008 show that Trump exchanged calls with Summer
Zervos on at least six occasions, including on a day that Trump’s private calendar has shown that he was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California.
That hotel stay is a part of Zervos’ defamation lawsuit against Trump in New York State Court. Zervos says that Trump forced himself on her with unwanted kissing and groping while she visited him for lunch in his hotel room.
The phone records “corroborate (Zervos’) account of the sexual assaults with even more granularity and with a degree of precision that (Zervos) could not have known were she not telling the truth about those interactions when she spoke publicly about them before this case was filed,” her lawyer, Mariann Wang, said in a court filing.
Zervos’ legal team released the records Tuesday.
Trump’s lawyer in the case, Marc Kasowitz, did not respond to a request for comment. After portions of Trump’s private calendars and email correspondence between Zervos and Trump’s secretary were made public last month, Kasowitz told The Associated Press that Zervos’ claims were “entirely meritless and not corroborated by any documents.”
Zervos is one of about a dozen women who has accused Trump of sexual misconduct before the 2016 election. Her case has been moving through the New York courts and could reach its conclusion before the 2020 election.
The call records came to light as part of an agreement between Zervos’ and Trump’s legal teams. The phone bills are redacted except for six phone calls with Zervos. The most important is probably a call from Trump to Zervos on Dec. 21, 2007. Portions of Trump’s private calendar show he had arrived in Los Angeles from Las Vegas that day and checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel, along with his bodyguard.
Trump’s lawyers have tried to block Zervos’ lawsuit, arguing that the president is immune from such lawsuits. But in March, a New York appellate court ruled that Trump must face the defamation suit. Trump’s lawyers have signaled their intent to appeal.
Zervos’ team wants Trump to give a deposition. The judge has set Dec. 6 as a deadline for all depositions in the case.