APPRENTICE/LEGAL/PUBLIC FIGURES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/SUMMER ZERVOS: “The president [Trump] believes the Supremacy Clause bars state lawsuits against a sitting president and looks to tackle an issue ‘not decided’ by the Supreme Court in Bill Clinton v. Paula Jones.
Donald Trump is making a big legal move that may shape his presidency over the next four years. In New York Supreme Court, his longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz looks to throw up a roadblock to a defamation lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, who appeared on season five of The Apprentice.
Zervos, represented by Gloria Allred, claims that Trump tarnished her reputation by denying acts boasted to Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush about grabbing women’s genitals. The Apprentice alum accuses Trump of kissing her twice in 2007 and attacking her in a hotel room. In response to this, Trump put out a statement that he ‘never met [Ms. Zervos] at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately,’ along with tweets how his accuser ‘made up events THAT NEVER HAPPENED.’
Now, Trump is looking to bifurcate the litigation so that ‘the threshold issue of whether the United States Constitution bars this Court from adjudicating this action against President Trump during his Presidency’ can be briefed and resolved first.”
-Eriq Gardner, “Donald Trump Claims U.S. Constitution Bars ‘Apprentice’ Star’s Defamation Suit While in Office,” The Hollywood Reporter, March 28, 2017