President Donald Trump wants New York's highest court to delay a defamation suit filed by a former "Apprentice" contestant who accused him of unwanted groping and kissing.
Trump's lawyers filed notice late Monday that they're asking the state Court of Appeals to freeze Summer Zervos' suit while a lower appellate court considers Trump's request to dismiss it or postpone it until after his presidency.
In this combination photo, President Donald Trump, left, listens during a meeting on healthcare in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on March 13, 2017 in Washington and Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice" appears at a news conference in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, 2016. (AP Photos/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, left, and Ringo H.W. Chiu, Files)
The president has denied Zervos' claims.
Zervos' lawyer, Mariann Wang, noted Tuesday that Trump has lost bids so far to delay the case — "and for good reason," she said.
"No one is above the law," Wang said in a statement. She said that she believed the "sound reasoning" behind the denials so far would prevail.
File - In this May 16, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump listens to a question during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Zervos, a California restaurateur, appeared in 2006 on Trump's former reality show, "The Apprentice." She says he made unwelcome advances when she sought career advice in 2007.
Zervos was among more than a dozen women who came forward late in the 2016 presidential race to say Trump had sexually harassed or assaulted them.
Trump denied all the claims, saying they were "100 percent fabricated" and "totally false" and his accusers were "liars." He specifically contested Zervos' allegations in a statement and retweeted a message that included her photo and described her claims as a "hoax."
FILE- In this Dec. 5, 2017 file photo, Summer Zervos leaves Manhattan Supreme Court at the conclusion of a hearing in New York. A New York court said Thursday, May 17, 2018, that the former "Apprentice" contestant can proceed with her defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump, at least for now. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Zervos' suit argues Trump defamed her by calling her a liar. She says his words hurt her reputation, harmed her business and led to threats against her.
She's seeking a retraction, an apology and compensatory and punitive damages.
Trump's attorneys have said his remarks were "non-defamatory opinions."
FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2017 file photo, Summer Zervos is seen after a hearing at Manhattan Supreme Court judge in New York. A New York court said Thursday, May 17, 2018, that the former "Apprentice" contestant can proceed with her defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump, at least for now. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
A Manhattan judge ruled in March that the case could go forward. Last week, a mid-level appeals court turned down Trump's bid to halt information-gathering in the case while appeals judges weigh his argument that a private citizen can't sue a sitting president in a state court.
Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz said last week there was "no valid reason" to reject the request.
Zervos' lawyers have issued subpoenas seeking a range of information about Trump's behavior toward women, including any Trump campaign documents concerning any woman who accused him of inappropriate touching and any unaired "Apprentice" footage that might feature Trump discussing female contestants in a sexual or inappropriate way.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring: “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
The message, delivered in a setting that typically avoids politics, was aimed at the growing chorus of world leaders who have criticized the heavy toll caused by Israel’s military offensive against Hamas militants and have urged the sides to agree to a cease-fire.
Netanyahu has said he is open to a deal that would pause nearly seven months of fighting and bring home hostages held by Hamas. But he also says he remains committed to an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite widespread international opposition because of the more than 1 million civilians huddled there.
“I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself,” he said, speaking in English. “Never again is now.”
Yom Hashoah, the day Israel observes as a memorial for the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its allies in the Holocaust, is one of the most solemn dates on the country’s calendar. Speeches at the ceremony generally avoid politics, though Netanyahu in recent years has used the occasion to lash out at Israel's archenemy Iran.
The ceremony ushered in Israel’s first Holocaust remembrance day since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war, imbuing the already somber day with additional meaning.
Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people in the attack, making it the deadliest violence against Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded with an air and ground offensive in Gaza, where the death toll has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials, and about 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are displaced. The death and destruction has prompted South Africa to file a genocide case against Israel in the U.N.’s world court. Israel strongly rejects the charges.
On Sunday, Netanyahu attacked those accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians, claiming that Israel was doing everything possible to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The 24-hour memorial period began after sundown on Sunday with a ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, in Jerusalem.
There are approximately 245,000 living Holocaust survivors around the world, according to the Claims Conference, an organization that negotiates for material compensation for Holocaust survivors. Approximately half of the survivors live in Israel.
On Sunday, Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League released an annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report for 2023, which found a sharp increase in antisemitic attacks globally.
It said the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States doubled, from 3,697 in 2022 to 7,523 in 2023.
While most of these incidents occurred after the war erupted in October, the number of antisemitic incidents, which include vandalism, harassment, assault, and bomb threats, from January to September was already significantly higher than the previous year.
The report found an average of three bomb threats per day at synagogues and Jewish institutions in the U.S., more than 10 times the number in 2022.
Other countries tracked similar rises in antisemitic incidents. In France, the number nearly quadrupled, from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, while it more than doubled in the United Kingdom and Canada.
“In the aftermath of the October 7 war crimes committed by Hamas, the world has seen the worst wave of antisemitic incidents since the end of the Second World War,” the report stated.
Netanyahu also compared the recent wave of protests on American campuses to German universities in the 1930s, in the runup to the Holocaust. He condemned the “explosion of a volcano of antisemitism spitting out boiling lava of lies against us around the world.”
Nearly 2,500 students have been arrested in a wave of protests at U.S. college campuses, while there have been smaller protests in other countries, including France. Protesters reject antisemitism accusations and say they are criticizing Israel. Campuses and the federal government are struggling to define exactly where political speech crosses into antisemitism.
Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Israeli students listen to a lecture at the Testimony House, a Holocaust museum in Nir Galim, Israel, on the eve of Israel's annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel holds the day of remembrance each year to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide during World War II. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The annual Israeli memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust of World War II begins at sundown Sunday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
People visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The annual Israeli memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust of World War II begins at sundown Sunday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli students watch a virtual tour of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau at the Testimony House, a Holocaust museum in Nir Galim, Israel, on the eve of Israel's annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel holds the day of remembrance each year to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide during World War II. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The annual Israeli memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust of World War II begins at sundown on Sunday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
