Almost one week has passed since Donald Trump was exposed for riffing on a hot mic to a gleeful Billy Bush in some unused Access Hollywood footage. The two men engaged in what Trump has repeatedly referred to as “locker room talk,” but it was really Trump bragging about groping and kissing women without consent. Since then, several women have come forward with claims of Trump groping and otherwise inappropriately touching them.
Now, the Washington Post publishes the story of Kristin Anderson, who says she experienced about 30 seconds at the hands of Trump, but she’ll never forget them. During the 1990s, she was at a nightclub with friends and minding her own business. Anderson claims she had never met Trump before that evening, but that he brashly approached and sexually assaulted her. He didn’t even say hello first, only went in for what he wanted:
Kristin Anderson was deep in conversation with acquaintances at a crowded Manhattan nightspot and did not notice the figure to her right on a red velvet couch — until, she recalls, his fingers slid under her miniskirt, moved up her inner thigh, and touched her vagina through her underwear … Anderson said she and her companions were “very grossed out and weirded out” and thought, “Okay, Donald is gross. We all know he’s gross. Let’s just move on.”
A few people who know Anderson friends spoke with The Post as well and confirmed that she told them of this encounter over the years. Anderson says she was deeply disturbed by Trump’s comments to Billy Bush, and they prompted her to relive a memory that never really left. She was struck with the seeming randomness of Trump’s behavior:
“It wasn’t a sexual come-on. I don’t know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it, and nothing would happen. There was zero conversation. We didn’t even really look at each other. It was very random, very nonchalant on his part.”
She also spurred to action by the many women who have been brave enough to come forward with their own claims against Trump. Anderson also reveals how the experience has haunted her:
“Every once in awhile it [would] come up in a ‘remember the time when . . .’ conversation and we [would] have a moment of disgust,” she wrote in an email to a Post reporter as she considered going on the record. “It didn’t cross my mind then that this person was a predator.”
Now, she said, she sees that sort of behavior as a “gateway” to something worse.
A stranger “sort of groping you on the side, on the sly, like you’re some kind of stuffed animal on the couch. That’s really not okay, and it opens the door for much worse behavior on [his] part and for the girl, allowing worse things to happen to them because they feel that it’s inconsequential.”
Anderson emphasized that it took time for her to realize that what happened was not “nothing,” and she hopes society will recognize this from the wave of women coming forward with similar accusations. In a statement to the Washington Post, Trump spokesman Hope Hicks has denied these new allegations against her boss.
UPDATE: Another woman has come forward with a claim against Trump. In a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred, former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos told her story:
Summer Zervos, who competed on the television show’s fifth season in 2006, gave a news conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles, saying Trump tried to get her to lie down on a bed with him when she met him in 2007 to discuss a possible job.
“He then asked me to sit next to him. I complied. He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast,” said Zervos.
Allred condemned Trump as well: “Instead of a job, Ms. Zervos claims she got the Donald all over her, kissing her, touching her breasts, leading her into his bedroom.” She addressed the Republican nominee directly: “Donald, before you can become President of the United States, you must first learn to treat women with respect.” The press conference can be seen in the below CNN clip, in which Zervos describes how Trump doggedly pursued her until she met with him to discuss a job over dinner. Her description of events is harrowing.
Since the Access Hollywood footage surfaced, Trump has apologized for his comments, and during his second debate with Hillary Clinton, he fielded a question from Anderson Cooper, who wanted to know, “Have you ever done those things?” Trump spoke of his respect for women: “And I will tell you: No, I have not.”
When one takes into account the many new allegations surrounding Trump, the claims span decades and speak to a pattern. Trump has insisted that none of the stories are true, and he’s tried to argue that these women have conveniently come forward at the same time as a Clinton-associated WikiLeaks dump. He has asserted that the Clintons waging a “conspiracy” against America are countered by more accusers with similar stories.
(Via Washington Post & Reuters)