17. E. Jean Carroll
E. Jean Carroll is photographed on June 23, 2019, in New York.
E. Jean Carroll is photographed on June 23, 2019, in New York.Craig Ruttle/AP
More than two years into Trump’s presidency, another accuser came forward with an accusation of an alleged decades-old incident.
In
a New York magazine article posted June 21, 2019, advice columnist E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. The article features an excerpt from Carroll’s forthcoming book “What Do We Need Men For” which is set to be released July 2.
In response to Carroll’s allegations, Trump issued a statement hours after the article posted, vehemently denying her claims, and said that he never even met Carroll. “She is trying to sell a new book—that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section. Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda.”
New York Magazine, in the online article, included a photo provided by Carroll which shows Carroll, Donald Trump and his then-wife Ivana, and Carroll’s then husband, television news anchor John Johnson, attending an NBC party around 1987.
ABC News has obtained an advance copy of the book, in which Carroll, now 75, detailed the alleged assault in four pages, writing she ran into Trump at the revolving door entrance of the high end department store’s entrance sometime during the fall of 1995 or spring of 1996. She claims he said to her “Hey, you’re that Advice Lady” and then asked her advice on buying a present for “a girl.” She writes the two ended up in the lingerie department where Carroll claims he asked her to try on a see-through bodysuit. Inside the dressing room, Carroll alleges that Trump lunged at her, pushed her against the wall, placed his mouth on her lips, and reached under her coatdress and pulled down her tights. In Carroll’s own words, she alleges: “The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, then thrusts his penis halfway- or completely, I’m not certain- inside me. It turns into a colossal struggle.”
Carroll said she never reported the incident to the police, but that she confided in two friends, contemporaneously.