Trump faces questioning deadline in libel lawsuit over sexual assault allegations

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NEW YORK Former President Donald Trump now has a December 23 deadline to submit to questioning in a defamation lawsuit against a former apprentice candidate on what he said in denying his allegations of sexual assault, a court said on Monday.

Lawyers for Trump and his accuser Summer Zervos have two weeks to try to set specific dates for depositions, a legal term for pre-trial examinations under oath. Zervos is also due out on Dec. 23, according to the schedule set during a teleconference with the Manhattan court.

Former apprentice candidate Summer Zervos leaves the New York State Court of Appeals in New York on October 18, 2018. AP Photo / Mary Altaffer, File

Then-President Trump was weeks away from the January 2020 filing deadline when he was granted a deadline to ask New York’s highest court to consider a full stay until that he be removed from his post. He argued that sitting presidents could not be prosecuted in state courts.

After he stepped down this year, the state’s high court called the Court of Appeal ruled that the matter was moot. The case has been sent to a Manhattan Magistrate’s Court for both sides to continue gathering evidence.

Zervos, a Californian restaurateur, appeared on The Apprentice in 2006. Trump was the host at the time.

A decade later, he was the Republican presidential candidate and she was one of a series of women who had publicly accused him of sexual assault or harassment years before. Zervos said he subjected her to unwanted kissing and fumbling during what she believed were career counseling meetings in 2007 at his New York office and at a California hotel he was staying at.

He denied her allegations, retweeted a post calling her a hoax and described the women who accused him of sexual assault and harassment as liars trying to hurt his campaign chances in 2016.

Zervos then sued, claiming he damaged his reputation. She asks for a retraction, an apology and unspecified damages.

Former Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz called Zervos’ claims without merit and said Trump’s statements were true and protected by the right to free speech.

Trump’s new lawyer Alina Habba said on Monday that she plans to expand the former president’s response to the case.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they come forward publicly like Zervos did.

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