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Former ‘Apprentice’ contestant is latest to accuse Trump of sexual harassment

The parade of accusers continues, this time in Los Angeles.
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October 14, 2016

The parade of accusers continues, this time in Los Angeles.

Seated alongside her attorney Gloria Allred on Friday, former “The Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexual harassment.

“After hearing the released audio tapes and your denials during the debate, I felt that I had to speak out about your behavior,” Zervos said, during a news conference at Allred’s Los Angeles office. “You do not have the right to treat women as sexual objects just because you are a star.”

Zervos, who in 2006 appeared on Season 5 of the “The Apprentice,” an NBC reality show, said Trump’s inappropriate behavior began in 2007, when the two met at his office in New York when she was visiting the city because, though she had been “fired” from the show, she “continued to see him as possible mentor and potential employer.”

“When I arrived, he kissed me on the lips,” Zervos said. “I was surprised, but felt that perhaps that was just his form of greeting.”

During the meeting at Trump’s office, Trump said he was interested in Zervos working for him, Zervos said.

“I felt as though my dream of working for Mr. Trump might come true,” she said.

At the end of the meeting, Trump kissed her again and took Zervos’ phone number. Her called her twice, the second time saying he would be traveling to Los Angeles and asked if she wanted to meet him at the Beverly Hills Hotel, she said.

Trump’s most egregious behavior took place in Trump’s private bungalow at the hotel, according to Zervos, who believed the two would have dinner at a hotel restaurant.

In Trump’s bungalow, Trump “grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast,” said Zervos, who resisted his advances. The two had dinner in the hotel room, talked business, including how to let Zervos’ home go into default, she said.

Zervos wanted to work for Trump despite his actions, she said.

“Even though Mr. Trump had sexually harassed me, I still wanted to get a job within the Trump organization,” she said, reading from a prepared statement in a conference room in Allred’s office, and stopping to drink water at one point.

Trump, however, did not offer Zervos the kind of job she was interested in, she said.

During the presidential campaign, after the release of an audiotape that features Trump bragging about his inappropriate behavior with women, Zervos said she decided to come forward about what happened between them.

She is one of several women who have accused Trump, who is running for president against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, of sexual harassment.

Trump appears on the audio tape with television host Billy Bush saying his fame entitles him to get away with kissing women upon meeting them, grabbing them by their genitals and pursuing married women.

Trump denies the accusations. He described his statements on the audio tape as “locker room talk.” He continues to seek the presidency despite decreasing support among members of his own Republican party and the call by some for him to drop out of the race.

On Friday, Allred said Trump is not qualified to serve as president.

“Donald Trump thinks that he can do and say whatever he wants. … The White House is not a locker room, and the American people deserve better than a president who believes that he is entitled to grope and grab and sexually assault women at his pleasure,” she said, reading prepared remarks.

“Seek help for your beliefs and alleged inappropriate sexual misconduct toward a number of women and girls,” Allred said, “and emerge only after you do what is necessary to become a better human being, and are able to treat all of our daughters, our mothers and our sisters with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”

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