Summer Zervos, a former "Apprentice" contestant who says Donald Trump sexually assaulted her after she was on the show, issued subpoenas Wednesday for any video or audio recordings in which the president speaks in a "sexual or inappropriate manner" about women.
Mariann Wang, a lawyer for Zervos in her defamation suit against Trump, sent subpoenas to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the production company that owns archives of "The Apprentice," and to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Zervos alleges Trump groped her in 2007.
Zervos, who was among a number of women who came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Trump during the campaign, filed a lawsuit last year accusing the president of defaming her when he called her a liar.
"We're gathering evidence that will prove that defendant lied when he falsely denigrated Ms. Zervos and denied sexually assaulting her," Wang told the New York Daily News about the subpoenas.
The Beverley Hills Hotel subpoena asks for any records relating to Trump's stays there between 2005 and 2009. It also requests records about Trump's longtime bodyguard Kurt Schiller, who frequently accompanied him on such stays.
The MGM subpoena asks the production company for any documents, video and audio recordings in which Trump talks about Zervos, in addition to any records of Trump talking about women in a sexually charged manner.
The requests revive speculation that Trump made denigrating comments about women while hosting "The Apprentice."
Media outlets and lawyers have tried to obtain unaired "Apprentice" recordings since the release of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, which caught Trump bragging about being able to "grab" women "by the p----" because he's "a star."
"You do not have the right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star," Zervos said during a news conference weeks before the 2016 election.
Zervos says Trump forcibly kissed her at his Manhattan skyscraper when she came to him for business advice after her run on the show. She also charges Trump forcibly grabbed her breasts during an encounter in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Jennifer Schecter allowed Zervos' defamation suit to proceed earlier this year after Trump's lawyer had argued the president is immune to such legal action.
"No one is above the law," Schecter wrote in a March decision. "It is settled that the President of the United States has no immunity and is 'subject to the laws' for purely private acts."
Zervos' subpoenas come amid an avalanche of damning news reports about Trump allegedly paying off a porn star and a Playboy model to keep quiet about having sex with him in 2006.
