By Michael Finnegan

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — A New York judge ruled Tuesday that an Orange County woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007 can move forward with her defamation suit against him.

Justice Jennifer G. Schecter of New York state court in Manhattan rejected a request by Trump’s lawyers that she dismiss the suit filed last year by Summer Zervos, who was a contestant on his reality television show “The Apprentice.”

The ruling exposes Trump to potentially embarrassing court proceedings that could drag on for months, if not years.

At the request of Zervos’ lawyers, Trump’s campaign agreed in March to preserve all documents it might have concerning allegations that Trump touched Zervos and nine other women inappropriately.

Now the campaign might be forced to give those and other documents related to accusations of sexual misconduct by Trump to the Zervos legal team, led by Gloria Allred.

A few weeks before Trump was elected president, Zervos alleged that he tried to force himself upon her in 2007 at a dinner in a bungalow at the hotel.

Trump responded by charging repeatedly that Zervos and other women accusing him of sexual misconduct were lying. He threatened to sue them after the election but never took them to court.

Zervos, however, sued Trump a few days before his inauguration, saying he defamed her and the other women he branded as liars.

Trump “knowingly, intentionally and maliciously threw each and every one of these women under the bus, with conscious disregard of the impact that repeatedly calling them liars would have upon their lives and reputations,” her complaint said.

The week before Zervos went public with the allegations, Trump apologized for saying during the taping of an “Access Hollywood” episode that he could grab women by their genitals whenever he wanted because he was a celebrity.

But Trump denied allegations that he actually engaged in sexual misconduct.

In the Zervos case, Trump’s lawyers argued that the Constitution immunizes Trump from being sued in state court while he is serving as president.

They also said Trump’s comments about the women’s accusations during the campaign were “fiery rhetoric” and hyperbole protected by the First Amendment, not defamation.

After appearing on “The Apprentice” in 2005 and getting “fired” on the show, Zervos sought real-life work at the Trump Organization. On a visit to his Trump Tower office in 2007, he kissed her on the lips without her consent, she said.

Soon after that, he invited her to dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When she arrived, Trump’s security guard led her to Trump’s bungalow, where he kissed her aggressively, put his hand on her breast and pressed his genitals against her, she said.

Zervos said she spurned his advances, leading Trump to get angry.

Zervos, a Republican, did not go public with her allegations until the week after he denied engaging in the kind of conduct he described in the “Access Hollywood” tape.

“I felt that I had to speak out about your behavior,” she said. “You do not have the right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star.”