NEW YORK — Appeals court judges weighing President Donald Trump’s bid to shut down a former Apprentice contestant’s defamation suit against him asked a hypothetical question Thursday: Could a New York court order the president to jail if he were to buck an order in the case?
The question came up — but wasn’t definitively answered — as lawyers for Trump and ex-contestant Summer Zervos argued in a New York appeals court.
Zervos, a 2006 Apprentice contestant, sued Trump for calling her a liar after she accused him of unwanted kissing and groping in two incidents in 2007 when Trump was the reality show’s host. She says she met with him twice the next year, seeking career advice but getting unwelcomed kisses and groping. Trump’s lawyers are trying to get the case dismissed or delayed until after his presidency.
Trump has denied Zervos’ claims and retweeted a message calling them “a hoax.” Zervos is seeking a retraction, an apology and compensatory and punitive damages. Like Trump, she is a Republican.
Thursday’s court session focused on one of the Trump legal team’s central arguments: that a sitting president can’t be sued in a state court over conduct outside official duties.
But State Supreme Court Appellate Division Justices Peter Tom and Angela Mazzarelli had some theoretical questions about practical matters: Could a president be taken to a city small-claims court? Or jailed by a state judge who could hold the commander in chief in contempt of court after an order was disregarded?
Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz suggested the contempt question helped prove his point.
“I think there is something really, really telling about that argument,” he said.
Zervos’ attorney, Mariann Wang, said it’s unlikely the hypothetical scenario would ever happen and the Constitution doesn’t shield a president from state court suits over non-official conduct.