Back in court: Trump’s appeal in defamation case dismissed

The New York court said Trump’s argument that he is protected by the United States Constitution is moot, as he is no longer US president.

The defamation suit against Donald Trump filed by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos is back on track after New York’s highest court agreed the case should continue now that the onetime reality-TV host is no longer president. Trump had argued the U.S. Constitution placed him, as president, beyond the reach of state courts. The New York Court of Appeals said that argument was moot now that he was no longer in office. Zervos, who claims Trump sexually assaulted her more than a decade ago and then defamed her by calling her a liar, has said she’ll seek to depose Trump under oath in the case, one of several legal threats facing the former president as he maps out his political future. E. Jean Carroll, another accuser whom Trump has called a liar, is also planning to depose him in a defamation suit.