LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 14: Attorney Gloria Allred (L) holds a press conference with Summer Zervos, a former candidate on The Apprentice season five, who is accusing Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual conduct October 14, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. This is the first time the accuser has spoken publicly about the alleged incident. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
The private attorney for Donald Trump told a court this week that the President should be immune from a defamation lawsuit filed by a former contestant from The Apprentice. Summer Zervos, filed a lawsuit against Trump in New York in January accusing the president of kissing and groping her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2007.
Trump denied the accusation, calling it "100% fabricated and made-up charges," "totally false," and "totally made up nonsense."
Gloria Allred, who represents Zervos, demanded that the president apologize to her client. After Trump did not respond to the request for the retraction, Zervos filed a second lawsuit against Trump alleging defamation, saying that Trump's comments had been "detrimental to Ms. Zervos's reputation, honor and dignity."
In a filing this week, Trump's attorney, Marc Kasowitz asserted that the supremacy clause of the U.S. constitution barred the lawsuit as it could "distract a President from his public duties to the detriment of not only the President and his office, but also the nation." Kasowitz also included in his filing, the 1997 Clinton v. Jones Supreme Court ruling.
Allred responded to the motion in a post on Facebook Thursday morning saying that they do not believe that the president "enjoys legal immunity from our defamation lawsuit," and that Zervos would continue to seek vindication for her rights and reputation.