Trump isn’t having the best of times at the moment, despite what his constant tweets to the contrary try and claim.
Yesterday, he tweeted what could possibly be one of the biggest blunders of his Presidential career to date when he basically admitted he knew about Michael Flynn lying to the FBI.
But while everyone is focused on that, the president’s lawyers are preparing for another big case, according to Insider.
His lawyers are gearing up for a hearing in the New York state Supreme Court, in which they’re going to try and get a defamation case against the leader of the free world thrown out.
If that doesn’t go down, then president Trump could well be forced to testify on claims that he sexually assaulted over a dozen women.
The suit was filed by a former contestant on the US Apprentice Summer Zervos, who claimed that Trump ‘very aggressively’ kissed her, and fondled her before ‘thrusting’ himself at her in 2007.
The defamation aspect of the lawsuit stems from Zervos’ alleged reputational damage when Trump called her a liar.
This comes at a time when sexual assault allegations are surfacing against various high-profile males in society including Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey.
However, Trump’s lawyers are expected to argue that Trump cannot be a part of this suit until after his term in office because a sitting president cannot be sued in a state court.
This is obviously not necessarily the case, as former president Bill Clinton was impeached after lying under oath.
Clinton, under much public scrutiny, denied any sexual relations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, though DNA evidence later proved he did engage in sexual activity with her.
It was decided Clinton had committed perjury and thus was impeached.
But more than that, the law isn’t really on Trump’s side, as was decided in the 1997 case Clinton v Jones, in which The Supreme Court ruled that sitting presidents are not immune from civil litigation over something which happened before they took office.
The argument from the Trump camp is that this is different because it was filed in state court, rather than federal court.
It’s currently not clear just whether this argument will stand up in court.
Trump tweeted back in October of last year that this claim and other claims made against him were ‘totally phony’, writing in a series of tweets:
100 per cent fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton Campaign, may poison he minds of the American Voter. FIX…
Polls close, but can you believe I lost large numbers of women voters based on made up events THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Media rigging election…
Can’t believe these totally phoney stories, 100 per cent made up by women (many already proven false) and pushed big time by press, have impact!
He has also threatened to sue every woman who has accused him, though is yet to follow up on his threat.
When asked about the allegations, Trump simply responded that they were ‘fake news’.
