Summer Zervos Claims New Evidence In Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Donald Trump
She's not the only one accusing Trump.
getty Ever since the Me Too movement, men of power and wealth have started to be held accountable for their disturbing and horrifying behavior.
We’ve seen a slew of names appear in the headlines, facing accusations of sexual assault, harassment, misconduct, and even rape. Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Brett Kavanaugh, R. Kelly, Charlie Rose, James Franco, Mario Batali — it seems the list of names are endless, and more come out each day.
But there’s one person whose mixed perception among America citizens has seemed to evade accountability: the President of the United States.
Donald Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 25 women. Accusations include instances of Trump groping, sexually assaulting, and forcibly kissing these women. He denies all allegations and has often referred to his accusers as "liars."
Though these cases don’t have any physical evidence, one woman who came forward may have a chance of bringing Trump to court. Who is Summer Zervos?
Zervos accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a hotel room back in 2007, while appearing as a contestant on The Apprentice. She claims Trump groped and kissed her at a dinner, and then invited her to meet him at his golf course the following morning. Zervos also says he kissed her while in his office at Trump Tower. Neither encounters were consensual, according to her.
After discussing with lawyers in 2011, she wrote an email in 2015 to Fox News. She wrote: “I was on the Apprentice. After the show was completed, Trump invited me to a hotel room under the guise of working for him. He had a different agenda. Please contact me to speak further as I have tried to make contact.”
In 2017, Zervos filed a lawsuit, suing Trump for defamation after he called her a liar.
Zervos also spoke publicly during a November 2016 press conference:
“Mr. Trump stated that after the election he would file lawsuits against me and the other accusers he sexually assaulted... [I’ve been] threatened, bullied and saw my business targeted. I also suffered other repercussions because I chose to speak out and tell the truth...
He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast. I pulled back and walked to another part of the room. He then walked up, he grabbed my hand and walked me into the bedroom... He put me in an embrace and I tried to push him away. I pushed his chest to put space between us and I said ‘Come on man, get real.’ He repeated my words back to me, ‘Get real’ as he began thrusting his genitals. He tried to kiss me again and with my hand still on his chest I said, ‘Dude, you’re trippin’ right now,’ attempting to make it clear that I was not interested...
I want to make it clear that even though it is hard and painful to go up against the world’s most powerful man, I will continue to speak the truth and I refuse to be intimidated into silence. Until he does retract, I will continue to speak out and tell the truth. The truth is always the right option, and will win out in the end.”
The new evidence against Trump includes emails, a polygraph test, calendar entries, and recounting the story in 2015. The calendar entries from Trump places him at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles at the same time as Zervos. Mariann Wang, Zervos’ lawyer, says they have made a filing pushing for the release of documents that Trump’s lawyers are trying to block from public release.
Said Wang, “The fact that plaintiff sought legal counsel in 2011 and spoke about this to others including a news organization — years before the events of 2016 at issue in this case — strongly supports the inferences that her core narrative is true.”
A court order has set a deadline for December 6 for Trump to “undergo a deposition, a legal term for sworn questioning conducted out of court.” His lawyers’ attempts to dismiss or delay the case, but lost an appellate ruling in March.
Samantha Maffucci is an editor for YourTango who focuses on writing trending news and entertainment pieces. In her free time, you can find her obsessing about cats, wine, and all things Vanderpump Rules.