Donald Trump asks judge to dismiss accuser’s defamation case

WASHINGTON: As the rest of the US wrestles with holding sexual harassers to account, President Donald Trump is seeking to silence one of his most vocal critics — a former contestant on his reality TV show who accused him of groping her and sued him for calling her a liar.

At a crowded Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday, his lawyer asked a New York state judge to dismiss a defamation case by Summer Zervos, a contender on “The Apprentice” in 2005 who alleges he “ambushed” her without her consent on more than one occasion starting in 2007, kissing her on the mouth, touching her breast and pressing his genitals against her.

Attorney Marc Kasowitz said his objection to letting the case proceed is about following the US Constitution, not putting anyone above the law. “A state court may not exercise jurisdiction over the president of the United States while he or she is in office,” Kasowitz said.