Trump sexual-harassment accuser files defamation lawsuit

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A former contestant on "The Apprentice" is suing Donald Trump for defamation after the president-elect denied her accusations of making sexual advances and called her a liar.

During last year's campaign, Summer Zervos accused Trump of making sexual advances toward her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007.

She said she had approached Trump about a possible employment opportunity and he had invited her to meet at the hotel. During the meeting, she alleged, he made unwanted sexual contact with her, kissing her and placing his hand on her breast.

Trump denied her account, as well as allegations from other women who came forward with their own stories of sexual harassment by him.

"I want Mr. Trump to know that I will still be willing to dismiss my case against him immediately for no monetary compensation if he would simply retract his false and defamatory statements about me and acknowledge that I told the truth about him," Zervos said Tuesday at a press conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred.

Allred argues that there is nothing in federal law which prevents such a lawsuit against a sitting president.

As her precedent, she cites the sexual harassment case that former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones filed against former President Bill Clinton while he was in office. Clinton argued he had immunity, but the courts disagreed.

"The court explained that the president like other officials is subject to the same laws that apply to all citizens, that no case had been found in which an official was granted immunity from suit for his unofficial acts," Allred said.

Allred said the lawsuit was filed in New York. Trump and his attorneys have not yet publicly responded.