“A divided New York appeals panel has rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to dismiss or stall a lawsuit brought by a former ‘Apprentice’ contestant who claims Trump sexually assaulted her a decade ago. The appellate panel voted 3-2 to deny Trump’s bid to head off the suit from Summer Zervos, who says Trump kissed her, groped her breast and pressed his genitals against her in a Los Angeles hotel in 2007. After Trump denied the claims during the 2016 presidential campaign, Zervos sued him for defamation.”
“Trump’s lawyers argued that allowing such a suit to proceed in a state court would interfere with his responsibilities as president under the Constitution, but a trial judge rejected that argument and on Thursday the majority of the appeals panel agreed. ‘Defendant’s interpretation conflicts with the fundamental principle that the United States has a ‘government of laws and not of men,’’ Justice Dianne Renwick wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Troy Webber and Cynthia Kern” – Politico.