--- title: Apprentice Contestant Sues Donald Trump for Defamation description: Zervos is suing Trump for trying to discredit her allegations. canonical: https://time.com/4636828/donald-trump-summer-zervos-sexual-assault-defamation-apprentice/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-18T00:39:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:46:04.085Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former Apprentice Contestant Sues Donald Trump for Defamation og:description: She accused Trump of sexually assaulting her when she asked for career advice og:url: https://time.com/4636828/donald-trump-summer-zervos-sexual-assault-defamation-apprentice/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b0b23f725ffc23b/6988b5dae20a8757f2a93c61/gettyimages-631919392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Gloria Allred Holds Press Conference With Donald Trump Accuser og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former Apprentice Contestant Sues Donald Trump for Defamation twitter:description: She accused Trump of sexually assaulting her when she asked for career advice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b0b23f725ffc23b/6988b5dae20a8757f2a93c61/gettyimages-631919392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former _Apprentice_ Contestant Sues Donald Trump for Defamation Over Sexual Harassment Accusations  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 18, 2017 12:39 AM UTC  Summer Zervos attends a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred (L) to announce their defamation lawsuit against President-elect Donald Trump on January 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Summer Zervos attends a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred (L) to announce their defamation lawsuit against President-elect Donald Trump on January 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.David McNew—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 18, 2017 12:39 AM UTC A former _Apprentice_ contestant who [accused President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4531878/donald-trump-summer-zervos-apprentice/) of sexual assault and harassment in October filed a lawsuit Tuesday suing him for defamation. Summer Zervos came forward in October to accuse Trump of sexually harassing her when she asked him for professional advice in 2007\. [She said he repeatedly kissed her](http://time.com/4531878/donald-trump-summer-zervos-apprentice/) on the mouth, put his hand on her breast, and [tried to get her to](http://time.com/4531878/donald-trump-summer-zervos-apprentice/) “lay down and watch some telly telly” in the bedroom. At the time, Zervos was one of almost a dozen women who came forward during the campaign to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct throughout his career. After she made her accusation, Trump attempted to discredit her story. He released a statement saying “I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago,” and at various rallies he accused Zervos and other accusers of making up the stories as “false smears for personal fame,” suggesting that they were fabricating the stories for financial or personal reasons. He also tweeted that Zervos’s accusation was “yet another hoax.” Zervos is suing Trump for compensatory and punitive damages, but says she will waive the financial requests if he simply apologizes. “I want Mr. Trump to know that I would still be willing to dismiss my case against him immediately for no monetary compensation if he will simply retract his false and defamatory statements about me and acknowledge that I told the truth about him.” [Zervos’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said she took and passed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-apprentice-contestant-sues-trump-for-defamation-for-denying-alleged-groping/2017/01/17/9c88acb2-dcd9-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.daa617af022e) a lie detector test before filing the suit. Allred said that she would seek to depose Trump and get him to testify under oath, as well as subpoena recordings Trump made during _The Apprentice_. Sitting Presidents can [be sued over their private conduct or their behavior before their presidency](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-apprentice-contestant-sues-trump-for-defamation-for-denying-alleged-groping/2017/01/17/9c88acb2-dcd9-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.daa617af022e), the Supreme Court ruled after Clinton attempted to postpone a lawsuit brought by Paula Jones. Clinton’s testimony in that lawsuit led to allegations that he lied under oath, and his subsequent impeachment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4636828/donald-trump-summer-zervos-sexual-assault-defamation-apprentice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4636828/donald-trump-summer-zervos-sexual-assault-defamation-apprentice/"},"headline":"Former Apprentice Contestant Sues Donald Trump for Defamation Over Sexual Harassment Accusations","datePublished":"2017-01-18T00:39:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:46:04.085Z","description":"Summer Zervos is suing the President-elect for saying her allegations were a \"hoax\"","url":"https://time.com/4636828/donald-trump-summer-zervos-sexual-assault-defamation-apprentice/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b0b23f725ffc23b/6988b5dae20a8757f2a93c61/gettyimages-631919392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b0b23f725ffc23b/6988b5dae20a8757f2a93c61/gettyimages-631919392.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gloria Allred Holds Press Conference With Donald Trump Accuser","caption":"Gloria Allred Holds Press Conference With Donald Trump Accuser","creditText":"David McNew—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4636828/donald-trump-summer-zervos-sexual-assault-defamation-apprentice/","name":"Former Apprentice Contestant Sues Donald Trump for Defamation Over Sexual Harassment Accusations"}}]}] ```