Gloria Allred is off Summer Zervos’ defamation suit against President Trump, days after a victory for Allred and Zervos when a Manhattan judge denied Trump’s request to dismiss the case.
The famed attorney withdrew from the case in a Thursday court filing, which lists Mariann Wang as Zervos’ lawyer in the matter. Wang’s firm had completed most of the legal work in the case, the Associated Press reported.
On Friday, neither Allred nor Wang would comment on the departure, save for a statement provided to the press.
“Our withdrawal has nothing to do with the merits of her case against President Trump,” Allred said. “We will have no comment regarding the reasons for our firm’s withdrawal. We continue to wish Summer the very best in her pursuit of justice.”
Wang thanked Allred, an outspoken critic of Trump, and her firm “for all their work on this important case.”
“My firm will continue to represent Ms. Zervos,” Wang said. “We look forward to proving her claim.”
Meanwhile, Zervos has issued a statement of her own.
“I decided to part ways with Gloria Allred purely for personal reasons, having nothing to do with her work as my attorney,” Zervos said. “I look forward to having my day in court with my current legal team.”
She concluded with, “I will have no further comment on this matter.”
During a hearing in December, Wang said the president “was not above the law.” She offered to depose Trump at Mar-a-Lago “in between rounds of golf.”
One month later, Allred told The Daily Beast that Zervos’ defamation case against the commander-in-chief is “going to be a battle.”
When asked about Trump’s First Amendment defense, Allred said “the reason we filed this lawsuit is because we believe the truth matters.”
“We believe truth matters, and we believe that if a person believes—or has reason to believe—that they were defamed, they should have a right to pursue the person that defamed them,” Allred added.
Zervos spoke out against Trump in October 2016, as a dozen other women accused the reality TV star of sexual misconduct weeks before the election. She accused her former Apprentice boss of repeatedly kissing and groping her without her consent in 2007, and of pressing his genitals up against her.
Hours after Zervos came forward, Trump told supporters at a North Carolina rally that the allegations are “100% false” and that “they are made up, they never happened.”
He added, “It’s not hard to find a small handful of people willing to make false smears for personal fame, who knows maybe for financial reasons, political purposes.”
Zervos filed her defamation suit in January 2017. She says Trump’s statements—that she created a “phony” story for fame—caused her emotional and financial distress, and her restaurant to lose customers.
The statements “have been deeply detrimental to Ms. Zervos’s reputation, honor and dignity,” the lawsuit states, adding that Zervos “seeks all available remedies to undo this harm, including a retraction and apology by Mr. Trump.”
