Campaign Action
No wonder Donald Trump is hugging Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore so hard this week. As Moore tries to brush off accounts of how, as a man in his 30s, he pursued and in some cases molested or assaulted teenage girls, Trump’s lawyers are trying to get a defamation lawsuit by one of Trump’s many sexual harassment and groping victims dismissed.
[Summer] Zervos — a former contestant on "The Apprentice" — alleges in the lawsuit that she and her business were damaged after Trump's derogatory statements about her in the wake of her sexual misconduct allegations against Trump.
Trump's lawyers have argued in court filings that the president's comments were "non-actionable fiery rhetoric." They have alleged the statements made by Zervos were politically motivated.
Justice Jennifer Schecter is expected to rule on Tuesday whether the case should go on to the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
In addition to claiming that Trump was just engaging in political speech when he repeatedly called Zervos (along with a number of his other victims) a liar, Trump’s lawyers say that the president can't be sued in state court—but the Supreme Court established, in Clinton v. Jones, that a sitting president can be sued in federal court.
But under the circumstances, Trump must feel real common cause with Moore. These poor, pitiful, powerful men being victimized by the much less powerful women they abused.