Former ‘Apprentice’ contestant Summer Zervos ends suit against Donald Trump

NEW YORK — Former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos, who claimed that President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in 2007, has ended her defamation lawsuit against Trump with neither side receiving any money.

A one-page document on the settlement in Manhattan Supreme Court states that all claims are being “dismissed and discontinued in their entirety.”

“Ms. Zervos no longer wishes to litigate against the defendant and has secured the right to speak freely about her experience. Ms. Zervos stands by the allegations ... and has accepted no compensation,” lawyers Beth Wilkinson and Moira Penza said in a statement.

Zervos claims that Trump smeared her name to save his 2016 presidential bid after she went public with allegations he groped her in 2007.

Zervos was on the fifth season of Trump’s reality show, “The Apprentice.”

Trump successfully delayed Zervos’ suit while in the White House. But the case began moving forward once Trump was out of office. Trump then sought approval to file counterclaims against Zervos, alleging her lawsuit was frivolous. Trump faced a deposition in the case by Christmas.

“Ms. Zervos made the prudent decision to voluntarily drop her case without the exchange of any compensation or attorneys’ fees,” Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in an email. “She had no choice but to do so as the facts unearthed in this matter made it abundantly clear that our client did nothing wrong.”

Zervos claimed that the former president groped her in separate encounters at Trump Tower and in a bungalow of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The first time, at Trump Tower, he kissed her on the mouth when she arrived in his office for what was supposed to be a business meeting, her suit claimed. Then, when she set up a dinner meeting with him at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he did it again, grabbing her breast, according to the lawsuit.

“Let’s lay down and watch some telly telly,” Trump said as he tried to pull her into a bedroom, the suit states.

Trump “kissed her on the mouth repeatedly” without consent, “touched her breast” and “pressed his genitals up against her,” according to the suit.

Zervos was one of 12 women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct while he was running for president in 2016.

“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign, total fabrication,” Trump said. “The events never happened.”

Zervos filed the lawsuit three days before Trump took office as president in 2017.

“He left me with no alternative other than to sue him to vindicate my reputation,” Zervos said at the time.

Trump has denied the allegations.

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