Former ‘Apprentice’ contestant Zervos abruptly ended the lawsuit against Donald Trump

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters)-Summer Zervos, a former participant in “The Apprentice” who accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, on Friday ended his nearly five-year-old defamation lawsuit against the former president of US, without receiving an apology or compensation.

The sudden decision to stop the case prevented Trump from being questioned under oath about the accusations he subjected to Zervos of unwanted kissing and groping in 2007 after he sought career advice.

Zervos sued Trump in January 2017 in New York state court in Manhattan, alleging he damaged his reputation by calling such allegations by the women “lies” and retweeting a post calling him “fraud. . ”

Trump also denied claims to attack Zervos, calling them politically motivated. Zervos appeared on Trump’s reality television show in 2005.

“Ms. Zervos no longer intends to stand trial against the defendant and has secured the right to speak freely about her experience,” her attorneys Beth Wilkinson and Moira Penza said in a joint statement. “Ms. Zervos defends the allegations in her complaint.”

Related video: Summer Zervos sued Donald Trump in 2017

Trump, a Republican, is seeking https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-denies-evading-questioning-apprentice-contestants-defamation-case-2021-11-03 court permission to challenge Zervos for interfering with his right to speak freely, a right he said is protected under New York law.

Zervos’ lawyers called that effort an attempt to escape a court order on the Dec. 23 deadline to be evicted.

“Ms. Zervos made the prudent decision to voluntarily drop her case without exchange of any fees or attorney fees,” Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said in an email. “He had no choice but to do that because the facts unearthed in the matter became very clear that our client had done nothing wrong.”

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Wilkinson and Penza did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.

“It’s very sad when things like this can happen, but it’s very important to fight for truth and justice,” Trump said. “Only success can restore a person’s reputation.”

Trump’s comments were contained in a statement issued by Save America, a political action committee that supports him. The statement said Trump was “fully proven.”

Zervos ’case remained unresolved in part because Trump sought while in the White House to stop various legal proceedings by arguing with a sitting president who could not be sued.

That argument became controversial after Democrat Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump became a private citizen.

New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, dismissed Trump’s latest appeal in Zervos ’case in March.

Other legal issues have been delayed while Trump is president with the ongoing investigation https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-company-braces-expected-unveiling-criminal-tax-charges-thursday -2021-07-01 by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance at Trump’s family company, the Trump Organization.

Trump has denied some women’s claims of inappropriate sexual behavior.

One, former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, also sued Trump for defamation after he denied he was raped at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

Trump asked the federal appeals court in Manhattan to let him replace the U.S. government as defendant, essentially protecting him from personal liability, because he spoke about Carroll in his capacity as president.

Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 3. The Biden administration essentially upheld Trump’s position, describing his statements questioning Carroll’s credibility as “rude and disrespectful.”

Julie Fink, an attorney for Carroll, said in an email that her client had “no intention” to drop her lawsuit.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington, DC; Editing by Chris Reese, Cynthia Osterman, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)

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