Trump Dismisses Report of ‘Apprentice’ Contestant’s Subpoena
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump dismissed sexual assault claims brought by a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” after reports that her attorneys have subpoenaed his presidential campaign for all documents related to her or other female accusers.
Asked about the subpoena at a press conference on Monday, Trump said, “All I can say is it’s totally fake news. It’s just fake. It’s fake. It’s made-up stuff, and it’s disgraceful what happens. But that’s happens in the world of politics.”
But attorneys for Summer Zervos are seeking documents as part of her defamation lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court.
Zervos claimed that Trump forced himself on her when she met him in his Beverly Hills Hotel room in 2007. Trump denied the claims, but she filed a lawsuit earlier this year based on the accusation that the accusers’ claims were “all made up.”
The subpoena was disclosed in a court filing last month, and it seeks “all documents concerning any woman who asserted that Donald J. Trump touched her appropriately, including any basis for Donald J. Trump’s statements that any such woman fabricated, created, or lied about her/their interactions with him, or were motivated to come forward by fame, or ‘ten minutes of fame,’ money, politics, or pressure from the Clinton campaign.”
The subpoena names nine other women who have claimed that Trump touched her appropriately. The existence of the subpoena was first reported by BuzzFeed.
Zervos is represented by Mariann Wang in New York and Gloria Allred in Los Angeles.
Trump’s attorneys have sought to dismiss the case, arguing that it is politically motivated and that, among other things, the Supremacy Clause of the constitution forbids state governments from “interfering with the operations of the federal government,” including the presidency.
Zervos’ lawyers argue that her claims are not baseless and note that she is not a political opponent.
“She came forward to report the details of Defendant’s unwanted sexual battery only after he repeatedly lied publicly about his behavior,” her attorneys wrote in a filing. “Defendant then used his international bully pulpit to violate her for a second time.”
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