A top advice columnist is accusing President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her during a chance meeting while she was shopping at the iconic Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan.
E. Jean Carroll appears in a photograph on the cover of New York magazine, which features her story. She appears in the Donna Karan coat-dress she wore the day Trump allegedly attacked her. It “still hangs on the back of my closet door,” Carroll says. The magazine adds she has never worn it since that day, until now.
The details in the New York Magazine article, which are excerpted in part from Carroll’s upcoming book, are gruesome, disturbing, and “violent,” as NY Magazine reports. She describes Trump “forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.”
When Carroll meets Donald Trump in Bergdorf Goodman, the encounter starts as a friendly one. Trump recognizes her as “that advice lady”; Carroll recognizes him as “that real-estate tycoon.” Trump tells Carroll that he’s there to buy a gift for “a girl,” and though we don’t learn the identity of this mystery woman, Carroll places the ensuing incident in late 1995 or early 1996, during which time Trump was married to Marla Maples. When Trump asks Carroll to advise him on what to buy, she agrees, and the two eventually make their way to the lingerie section. Trump suggests a lace bodysuit and encourages Carroll to try it on; she, deflecting, jokingly suggests that he try it on instead. After they reach the dressing rooms, events turn violent. In Carroll’s account, Trump shoves her against a wall inside a dressing room, pulls down her tights, and, “forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.”
The attack, she says, occurred in late 1995 or early 1996, when Trump was married to Marla Maples.
She says she told several friends, getting different advice.
“‘He raped you,’ she kept repeating when I called her. ‘He raped you. Go to the police! I’ll go with you. We’ll go together.’”
…
“‘Tell no one. Forget it! He has 200 lawyers. He’ll bury you.’”
The White House denies the allegations.
Carroll has been an advice columnist at ELLE since 1993, and has written five books.
She is at least the 16th woman to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct or sexual assault.
Carroll has not mentioned the article or her allegation on Twitter but this tweet is posted to the top of her page. It’s from 2016:
Image via Twitter