New York judge rules Trump should sit for a deposition in defamation lawsuit
- A New York judge ruled that President Donald Trump should sit for a deposition by January 31, 2019 in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by a former contestant of his reality show, "The Apprentice."
- Summer Zervos accused Trump of "very aggressively" kissing and groping her in a 2007 encounter at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Trump denied the claim.
- Zervos pursued her defamation lawsuit against Trump on the accusation that he damaged her reputation by calling her liar.
- The court is considering whether case should be delayed until after Trump leaves office.
A judge in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday that President Donald Trump should sit for a deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by a former "Apprentice" contestant.
Summer Zervos accused Trump of sexual misconduct in 2016. Trump denied the accusations. Zervos is suing Trump for defamation on claims that he damaged her reputation by calling her liar.
Court documents filed on Tuesday show that Judge Jennifer G. Schecter ruled Trump and other parties in the case should be deposed no later than January 31, 2019.
The court is mulling over arguments about whether the case should be delayed until after Trump leaves office, and a decision on that could come as early as Thursday, The New York Post reported.
There is also the matter of the several other women who have accused Trump of various degrees of sexual misconduct.
Zervos' attorney wants to ask Trump about the other women's claims. Trump's attorney, Marc Kasowitz, has argued those women should not be brought up in Zervos' case if they're not otherwise involved, or pursuing their own defamation claims against the president.
Trump infamously bragged about manhandling women at will in leaked audio from his appearance on the celebrity gossip program, "Access Hollywood" in 2005. That audio, which dropped about a month before the 2016 presidential election, threatened to derail Trump's campaign.
The Zervos case is happening amid multiple other legal actions and investigations directly and indirectly involving Trump - including the federal probe of Russia's interference in the 2016 US election and an obstruction of justice inquiry being conducted by the special counsel Robert Mueller.
Read the full court document below:
Summer Zervos v. Donald J Trump order by Bryan Logan on Scribd