Donald Trump Has Been Subpoenaed Following a Woman's Sexual Assault Allegations
In the wake of a barrage of sexual assault and harassment allegations made against disgraced Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein—ones that show no sign of slowing—there’s more news on the allegations front, now pertaining to President Donald Trump and his upsetting history with women. Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trump’s reality show The Apprentice, alleged last October—shortly after the “grab them by the pussy” tape was leaked—that she met Trump in a Beverly Hills hotel 10 years ago to talk about a job at the Trump Organization. There, she says, he kissed her and grabbed her. Trump called her a liar, and she promptly sued him for defamation, calling in famous women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred to help. Now, according to Buzzfeed’s report, her lawyers have subpoenaed his campaign—and the scope of documents that they’re requesting could shed light on a lot.
The subpoena was first filed in March—though it just showed up in court files last month—and Zervos’ lawyers are asking for all of the campaign’s documents that not only relate to her, but “all documents concerning any accusations that were made during Donald J. Trump’s election campaign for president, that he subjected any woman to unwanted sexual touching and/or sexually inappropriate behavior.” Basically, Trump’s campaign is requested to turn over any documents that have anything to do at all with any of the women who alleged during the election season that Trump groped them. The subpoena names at least 10 women, but the actual total could be more than a dozen. It also asks for any documents from the campaign that have to do with the Access Hollywood tape, as well as any documents that pertain to Trump denying any of the allegations.
Trump’s team has disputed all of this and even tried to shut down Zervos’ lawsuit in July—his lawyers claimed that presidents can’t have civil suits brought against them while in office and that the suit’s goal is to find ammunition to impeach him. Whether the suit will be dismissed as a result, however, hasn’t been decided yet.
Until it is, the subpoena can’t go into action. Trump’s team has said that it’s too broad to be justified and that it’s just intended to harass the president.
Whether the suit—and subpoena–will be allowed to proceed won’t be decided until well after Halloween. Trump’s team has to file a reply by October 31 to Allred’s filed opposition of Trump’s team’s motion to dismiss the civil suit (did you get all of that?). And until Trump files that last reply, the date for the actual hearing (about whether to toss the suit or not) doesn’t get set. And it’s not until after the hearing that we’ll get an answer about the subpoena.
Whew. All of this amounts to a lot of legal drama and a lot of paperwork, but what we do know is that some very interesting disclosures could be ahead—so stay tuned.
Related Stories:
–A Timeline of Donald Trump’s Inappropriate History With Women
–Donald Trump Bragged About Groping Women in a Disturbing New Video