The Trump Organization has agreed to produce portions of President Donald Trump’s calendars from November 2007 to February 2008 as part of the Summer Zervos defamation suit, according to a letter filed in New York state court on Tuesday.
Zervos, a former contestant on Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” sued Trump for defamation in January 2017, alleging that he harmed her reputation when he called her a liar after she accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2007. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case.
Zervos claims Trump kissed her twice on the lips during a lunch meeting in his New York City office in 2007. On a separate occasion in Beverly Hills, California, she alleges, he kissed her aggressively and touched her breast. Trump has denied the allegations, and at a campaign rally dismissed the accusations brought by Zervos and other women, calling them “total fiction” and “all false stuff.”
The letter filed Tuesday says the Trump Organization “may designate as confidential any entries that contain confidential or proprietary information.”
The letter also notes that lawyers for Trump, the Trump Organization and Zervos will meet to discuss producing phone records for that period as well. It is signed by Zervos’ lawyer Mariann Wang, Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten and Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz.
Last week, the judge hearing Zervos’ defamation case granted part of her motion to compel Trump to provide answers or documents to some of the items in the case.
However, the judge denied Zervos’ other requests for discovery, ruling that information she is seeking regarding other women, such as those who have accused Trump of sexual assault, is not relevant to this case and would not lead to admissible evidence.
The ruling last week was a partial victory for Trump because it limits how much evidence can be gathered and made public in the case. But it was also a partial victory for Zervos, as it allows for her case to move forward.
When Zervos spoke out in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Trump denied her claims. The statute of limitations for the alleged misconduct had long passed, so Zervos and her lawyer Gloria Allred instead sued Trump for defamation.
After the suit was filed, Trump lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that a president has immunity from such lawsuits in state courts.
Judge Jennifer Schecter allowed Zervos’ case to move forward and wrote in a ruling, “No one is above the law. It is settled that the President of the United States has no immunity and is ‘subject to the laws’ for purely private acts.”
