President Trump wants to derail a defamation suit filed by a former contestant on his reality TV show “The Apprentice” by claiming immunity through his job as the nation’s commander-in-chief, according to court papers made public Tuesday.
Summer Zervos, who last year accused then-candidate Trump of groping and pressing his privates against her in 2007, sued him three days before his Jan. 20 inauguration for suggesting she made up the allegations for “ten minutes of fame.”
Three days before the inauguration, a former “Apprentice” contestant has…
In a Manhattan Supreme Court filing, longtime Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz said the president plans to file a motion to toss the case because the “Supremacy Clause” of the US Constitution “immunizes the President from being sued in state court while in office.”
Kasowitz said the Supreme Court raised — but did not decide — the issue in the sexual harassment suit that led to the 1998 impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton for lying under oath about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinksy.
Kasowitz also said the immunity question should be addressed in the Zervos case before the court considers the merits of her demand for $2,914 in damages and an apology from Trump.
“This procedure is in accordance with a long line of U.S. Supreme Court cases that require the courts to show deference to the President and his schedule and that require immunity issues to be resolved first, because immunity does not just insulate a defendant from liability, but spares him or her from the burden of defending against a lawsuit in the first place,” Kasowitz wrote.
Zervos’ lawyer, feminist firebrand Gloria Allred, said she didn’t believe Trump “enjoys legal immunity” and said the Supreme Court ruling in the Clinton case “determined unanimously that no man is above the law and that includes the President of the United States.”
“Summer seeks vindication of her rights and reputation for what her lawsuit alleges was personal misconduct by then-candidate Trump prior to his having been elected to the office of the President of the United States,” Allred said.
“We look forward to arguing this issue in court.”
Source: nypost.com
Be the first to comment on "Trump Trying to Use Presidency to Derail Grope Accuser’s Lawsuit"