Trump got asked about the claims following a weekend revelation that attorneys representing Summer Zervos, a 2007 'Apprentice' contestant, had obtained a subpoena ordering the Trump campaign to hand over any documents it had related to Zervos.
The subpoena further seeks 'all documents concerning any woman who asserted that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately.'
'All I can say is it's totally fake news. It's fake and made-up stuff and it's disgraceful what happens, but that happens in the world of politics,' he told reporters at the White House. Zervos is suing Trump for defamation after he said she lied about her claims.
Multiple other women came forward during the campaign to say Trump had touched them without consent.
The reporter who asked Trump about it mentioned the 'avalanche of allegations made against Harvey Weinstein' – who is accused of harassment, groping, and rape by a parade of actresses – as well as the subpoena, prompting the president's response.
The lawsuit by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trump's TV show 'The Apprentice,' says he made 'numerous false, defamatory statements' in response to her allegations that he tried to kiss and grope her without her consent.
The subpoena, which was issued in March but filed September 19, directs the Trump campaign and its affiliates to hand over documents on Zervos and her associates as well as on 'any woman alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately. It also seeks documents on 'any accusations' made during Trump's election campaign that he 'subjected any woman to unwanted sexual touching and/or sexually inappropriate behavior,' and on the president's responses to allegations against him.
The subpoena, which previously not been made public, was first reported by BuzzFeed News.
Zervos said last year that Trump had made unwanted sexual advances toward her when she met him at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles in 2007 to discuss career opportunities. Trump moved toward her aggressively during the encounter and touched her on the breast but she rebuffed him, she alleged.
Zervos and several other women who made similar allegations came forward after a 2005 videotape of Trump bragging about groping women surfaced in early October.
The president-elect claimed his comments on the tape were 'locker-room banter,' and denounced the sex assault allegations as lies and fabricated stories.
According to Zervos' suit, 'Mr Trump became obsessed with calling Ms Zervos and any other woman who came forward to report his abuse liars with improper motives.'
Trump is a 'liar and misogynist' who has 'debased and denigrated Zervos with false statements about her,' the lawsuit says. The subpoena also calls for all of his campaign documents related to the shocking tape and to his numerous denials of the accusations that were lodged against him during that time period.
Trump said on Twitter and in public statements last October that all of the women were pushing 'false allegations and outright lies' in an effort to help elect Hillary Clinton as president.
He even suggested that some of the women were not attractive for him to target and threatened a lawsuit against them all.
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