January 17, 2017

Summer Zervos in November with Gloria Allred.

Ringo H.w. Chiu / AP

A former contestant on The Apprentice who alleges Donald Trump groped and forcibly kissed her at a hotel in 2007 filed a defamation lawsuit Tuesday, alleging the president-elect publicly disparaged her when he called her a liar.

Trump called the allegations by Summer Zervos that he forced himself on her in Beverly Hills lies, and vowed to sue her and a dozen other women who came forward with allegations of misconduct during his campaign.

Since he has been unwilling to retract his statements calling her a liar, or acknowledge that she was telling the truth, Zervos said she had no other choice but to file a lawsuit “in order to vindicate my reputation.”

Her attorney, Gloria Allred, called the decision to sue brave.

“She knows that she will be attacked by Donald Trump,” Allred said at a news conference in Los Angeles. “We’ve waited two months. Time is up.”

Trump’s treatment of women came under greater scrutiny during his campaign after the release of a 2005 Access Hollywood tape that recorded him bragging about kissing women, grabbing them “by the pussy,” and attempting to have sex with a married woman.

Trump has denied all of the allegations made against him.

LINK: More Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately