Summer Zervos drops lawsuit against Donald Trump — but stands by her allegations

Former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos is dropping her nearly five-year-old defamation lawsuit against former president Donald Trump.

"After five years, Ms. Zervos no longer wishes to litigate against the defendant and has secured the right to speak freely about her experience," Zervos' lawyers, Beth Wilkinson and Moira Penza, said in a joint statement Friday, according to Reuters. "Ms. Zervos stands by the allegations in her complaint and has accepted no compensation."

Zervos had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Beverly Hills hotel room more than a decade ago. After Trump called Zervos a liar during his 2016 presidential campaign, Zervos sued him for allegedly damaging her reputation.

Trump managed to delay Zervos' lawsuit while he was in office, by arguing that a sitting president can't be sued in state court.

Although a New York trial judge rejected Trump's argument, the state's highest court waited until March of this year to dismiss his appeal, after he left office and his argument became moot. Before Zervos announced she was dropping the suit, Trump had faced a Dec. 23 deadline to be deposed in the case. However, he was seeking to further delay the suit by amending his response to the Zervos' complaint and adding counterclaims.

Trump's lawyer Alina Habba told Reuters in an email: "Ms. Zervos made the prudent decision to voluntarily drop her case without the exchange of any compensation or attorneys' fees," Trump's lawyer Alina Habba said in an email. "She had no choice but to do so as the facts unearthed in this matter made it abundantly clear that our client did nothing wrong."

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