Trump’s private calendar shows him at place of alleged sexual assault of former Apprentice contestant

Excerpts of Donald Trump’s private calendar from a dozen years ago appear to show he was at a Beverly Hills hotel around the same time a former Apprentice contestant alleges he assaulted her there.

Email exchanges from 2007 also released on Thursday show that Summer Zervos had sought a lunch meeting with Mr Trump in New York around the time she claims he kissed her inappropriately in that city.

The calendar records and email correspondence came to light in court filings related to Ms Zervos’ ongoing defamation lawsuit against Mr Trump in New York state court.

Ms Zervos is one of about a dozen women who accused Mr Trump of sexual misconduct shortly before the 2016 election, and her case could reach its conclusion before voters return to the polls next year.

Mr Trump has denied accusations of sexual impropriety and said he never even met Ms Zervos at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

“To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago,” Mr Trump said after she made her accusation.

But Ms Zervos’ lawyer said the documents, and others the Trump Organisation has held back from public view, back up her client’s claims.

Her “account of the underlying sexual assaults has now been corroborated, in close detail, by documents produced from [Trump’s] own files,” lawyer Mariann Wang wrote in a memo filed on Thursday.

After it's contents were revealed, Mr Trump’s lawyer in the case, Marc Kasowitz, told the Associated Press that Ms Zervos’ claims are “entirely meritless and not corroborated by any documents”.

Mr Trump called Ms Zervos and other women who have made accusations against him “liars”, prompting Ms Zervos to sue him for defamation.

The documents released were made public as part of an agreement between Ms Zervos’ and Mr Trump’s legal teams.

The filings include some of the hundreds of documents produced by the Trump Organisation in the discovery phase of the lawsuit that the company had deemed confidential.

Among the new documents are email correspondence between Ms Zervos and Mr Trump’s secretary, Rhona Graff, from autumn 2007, where Ms Zervos asks to meet Mr Trump.

“I will be in New York late November, and would like the chance to take Mr Trump to lunch,” Ms Zervos wrote to Ms Graff on 1 October 2007. “I simply think a lot of him and would look forward to visiting with him.”

Ms Graff responded: “Why don’t we keep it casual. Call me when you are in town, and you can certainly pop over if it’s convenient.”

Ms Zervos, who has said she hoped to work for the Trump Organisation and wanted professional advice, has said she visited Mr Trump in his office in Trump Tower in New York.

“When I arrived he kissed me on the lips,” Ms Zervos said in a 2016 statement. “I was surprised, but felt that perhaps that was just his form of greeting.”

As the meeting was wrapping up, Ms Zervos said Mr Trump kissed her again and she was “upset” by this and told friends and family.

Ms Zervos has said she later met Mr Trump for a lunch meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel, when she said the unwanted fondling occurred. Despite the nature of the encounter, she said, she voluntarily met him again the next day at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

The calendar records provided by the Trump Organisation show that Mr Trump left Las Vegas on 21 December 2007, arrived in Los Angeles, and went to the Beverly Hills Hotel that afternoon, along with his bodyguard Keith Schiller.

The entry for the next day says he visited the “Trump National Golf Club” in the morning before departing Los Angeles the following day.

The Zervos case is emerging as one of the more pressing legal challenges to Mr Trump, who is facing legal challenges on many fronts, from the impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill to lawsuits targeting his businesses and finances.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have tried to block Ms Zervos’ suit, arguing that the president is immune from such state court lawsuits. But in March, a New York appellate court ruled that Mr Trump had to face the defamation lawsuit.

A judge set a deadline of 6 December for depositions, meaning Trump may have to make a statement or answer questions under oath. Mr Trump’s lawyers have signalled their intent to appeal. The discovery phase of the lawsuit is ongoing.

The Zervos case is not the only defamation lawsuit Mr Trump has faced as president.

Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels had filed a separate suit against Mr Trump, arguing that he defamed her when he suggested she had lied about being threatened to keep quiet about their alleged past relationship. That lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge last year.

The Washington Post