A US magazine columnist has accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her at a New York luxury department store in the late 1990s.
An excerpt from E Jean Caroll's book titled 'What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal' was published in New York Magazine on Friday. It divulged details about her experience of sexual assault by "real estate tycoon" in first person account headlined 'Hideous Men: Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he's not alone on the list of awful men in my life'.
Caroll revealed that she had met Trump at the store when she was 52 and helped to suggest a gift for 'a girl' after he sought her advice.
She claimed that between 1995 and 1996, he 'lunged' at her at the upscale Bergdorf store's lingerie section, and pushed her against the wall while attempting to kiss her. "I am so shocked I shove him back and start laughing again. He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights" she wrote.
While she had confided to two friends about the assault, where one said that she should report to the police while the advised Caroll to not reveal anything because "he'll bury her with 200 lawyers", she had decided to not lodge a criminal case. The magazine reported that both the women had confirmed their accounts on the incident.
However, Donald Trump has denied all allegations and claimed that he had never met her and called the publication a "crooked newspaper".
Just revealed that the Failing and Desperate New York Times was feeding false stories about me, & those associated with me, to the FBI. This shows the kind of unprecedented hatred I have been putting up with for years with this Crooked newspaper. Is what they have done legal?...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019
He accused the Democratic party to be behind the recent controversy in a statement, "If anyone has information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms Carroll or New York Magazine, please notify us as soon as possible. The world should know what's really going on. It is a disgrace and people should pay dearly for such false accusations."
The White House has also denied the accusations and stated, "This is a completely false and unrealistic story surfacing 25 years after allegedly taking place and was created simply to make the president look bad."
Regarding evidence, Caroll claimed that the department store no longer had security footages of the time the incident took place.
She described that the reason she didn't lodge a formal complaint was that he will deny the allegations like the way he denied the accounts of two dozen women who had confided about his unwanted sexual advance before. She also said, "I run the risk of making him more popular by revealing what he did".
Trump was under fire after 15 women alleged Trump of gross sexual misconduct before he became the president.
A video of an Access Hollywood footage had emerged during his 2016 presidential election campaigns in which he controversially stated of having the liberty of grabbing women by her vagina because of his popularity,
He had apologised for the statement and said that it was "locker room" talk.
