11/1/2017
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trump’s reality television show “The Apprentice” filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump in January. In her lawsuit, Zervos accuses Trump of aggressively kissing her and groping her breasts during a 2007 meeting that took place when she was seeking a job at his company. Her lawsuit claims that he made defamatory statements by describing as liars women who came forward last year to accuse him of misconduct.
Marc Kasowitz, an attorney for Trump, said in a statement that there is “no merit” to her case, adding that it “is based on allegations of events that never occurred.”
In a new 36-page legal filing, Trump’s attorneys argue that previous legal cases have established “wide latitude” for political speech, and that Trump’s comments were effectively campaign rhetoric, coming in the context of the heated 2016 presidential campaign. “All of the Statements occurred on political forums — a campaign website, on Mr. Trump’s Twitter account, in a presidential debate, and at campaign rallies — where the listeners expect to hear public debate, taken as political opinion rather than a defamatory statement,” they argued.
The president’s lawyers further argued that Trump had a First Amendment right to call the claims by Zervos and other women false. They said that by accusing him of sexual misconduct to the media, Zervos was “explicitly soliciting” Trump to engage in the debate in an effort to affect the election. “This is a politically-driven action, brought against a sitting President for exercising his First Amendment right to speak on political and public matters concerning, among other things, his own qualifications for President, the media’s role in the election process, and the tactics of his opponent, Hillary Clinton,” his attorneys argued.
Trump’s attorneys also said that he did not specifically call Zervos a liar.
“Here, Mr. Trump was merely defending his character and qualifications for office from the false attacks Ms. Zervos leveled against him just a few weeks before the Presidential election,” they argued.
Trump’s attorneys again asked for the dismissal of Zervos’s suit, or a stay in the case while Trump is president, saying the claim is a civil action unrelated to his official duties as president.
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