1 More Woman Accuses Trump Of Inappropriate Sexual Conduct. Here's The Full List
Updated Oct. 20 at 2:34 p.m. to include the Trump campaign's response to Karena Virginia's allegations.
The allegations against Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior had quieted down, but on Thursday morning, another woman spoke up. The latest accuser, Karena Virginia, held a Thursday press conference with attorney Gloria Allred, in which Virginia alleged that Trump groped her in 1998.
Trump has thus far denied any of the incidents and has also threatened to sue the New York Times, which reported two of the most recent accusations.
Though some allegations had first been reported months ago, a 2005 video taken prior to a Trump appearance on Access Hollywood brought renewed, intense scrutiny to Trump's treatment of women. In the video, Trump describes kissing women and grabbing their crotches without consent ("[W]hen you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything," he can be heard telling host Billy Bush).
That kicked off a flood of accusations, which, taken together, suggest a decades-long pattern of behavior. We have compiled a list of the things women have alleged against him. We will update the list if new information emerges.
Assault Allegations (Unwanted Touching, Kissing, Etc.)
NAME: Jessica Leeds
TIME FRAME: Early 1980s
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Alleges that she sat next to Trump on a flight
ALLEGATION: Leeds told the New York Times that after she was moved into a first-class seat next to his, Trump lifted the armrest, touched her breasts, and "started putting his hand up [her] skirt."
"He was like an octopus," she said. "It was like he had six arms. He was all over the place."
Leeds affirmed to NPR the account in the Times and says she shared her story in a letter to the editor.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: Trump denied the allegation in an interview with the Times, threatening to sue the organization and calling the reporter who asked him about it a "disgusting human being." In a statement released Wednesday night, the Trump campaign emphatically denied all of the allegations in the Times story (which also includes the allegations by another woman, Rachel Crooks, below). From Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman:
"This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election.
"It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all.
"Further, the Times story buries the pro-Clinton financial and social media activity on behalf of Hillary Clinton's candidacy, reinforcing that this truly is nothing more than a political attack. This is a sad day for the Times."
In a Friday speech, Trump also said of Leeds: "Believe me. She would not be my first choice. That I can tell you." He added, "You don't know. That would not be my first choice."
NAME: Ivana Trump
TIME FRAME: 1989
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Wife from 1977 to 1992
ALLEGATION: In a July 2015 article, The Daily Beast summarized an incident (also written about in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald Trump, by Harry Hurt III) in which Ivana Trump alleged a violent attack by her former husband:
"After a painful scalp reduction surgery to remove a bald spot, Donald Trump confronted his then-wife, who had previously used the same plastic surgeon.
" 'Your fucking doctor has ruined me!' Trump cried.
"What followed was a 'violent assault,' according to Lost Tycoon. Donald held back Ivana's arms and began to pull out fistfuls of hair from her scalp, as if to mirror the pain he felt from his own operation. He tore off her clothes and unzipped his pants.
" 'Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than sixteen months. Ivana is terrified... It is a violent assault,' Hurt writes. 'According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, 'he raped me.'
"Following the incident, Ivana ran upstairs, hid behind a locked door, and remained there 'crying for the rest of night.' When she returned to the master bedroom in the morning, he was there.
"As she looks in horror at the ripped-out hair scattered all over the bed, he glares at her and asks with menacing casualness: 'Does it hurt?' Hurt writes."
Ivana Trump, however, has dialed back the allegation. In a statement given just prior to the book's printing (also quoted by the Daily Beast), she said: "[O]n one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage. As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a 'rape,' but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense."
Last year, she released another statement to CNN, saying that she originally told the story "at a time of very high tension" amid her divorce from Donald Trump, adding that the story was "totally without merit."
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: In 1993, Trump said that Ivana's allegations were "obviously false," as the Daily Beast reports, quoting Newsday. Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, said that "you cannot rape your spouse" — a statement that is entirely untrue (Cohen has since apologized). He also threatened The Daily Beast reporters who wrote the story at length, saying at one point: "So I'm warning you, tread very f****** lightly, because what I'm going to do to you is going to be f****** disgusting. You understand me?"
NAME: Kristin Anderson
TIME FRAME: Early 1990s
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Anderson and Trump were at a nightclub in Manhattan on the same night
ALLEGATION: Anderson says Trump sat next to her on a couch, put his hand up her skirt, and "touched her vagina through her underwear," in the words of the Washington Post's Karen Tumulty, to whom Anderson told her story. She said she pushed his hand away immediately, and that the incident was brief: "less than 30 seconds," as Tumulty wrote. The people at the club with her knew of the incident, and Anderson also said she told friends a few days later.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: "Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous," Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Post.
NAME: Jill Harth
TIME FRAME: Starting in 1992
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Business partner
ALLEGATION: The New York Times first published a legal complaint detailing Harth's account in May, but Harth elaborated in an interview with the Times' Nicholas Kristof in October. She said that at dinner one night, Trump put his hands up her skirt, touching her crotch. "He was relentless ... I didn't know how to handle it. I would go away from him and say I have to go to the restroom. It was the escape route," she told Kristof. "He name-dropped continuously," she added in a later lawsuit, "when he wasn't groping me."
More from the article:
" 'I was admiring the decoration, and next thing I know he's pushing me against a wall and has his hands all over me,' Harth told me. 'He was trying to kiss me. I was freaking out.' "
However, Harth also said Kristof that Trump was "never violent," as Kristof wrote.
Harth also told her story to WNYC in August after a Twitter spat with Trump:
"He knew I was engaged to somebody else, and he seemed to be very into trying to break that up. He was sexually harassing me, that's it, plain and simple. ... It was a shock and I pushed him off of me. And I was, I said to him, What are you doing, why are you doing this? He put out that he's the type of guy that gets what he wants. Donald gets what he wants. And he was annoyed and insulted that I wasn't going for it with him. I believe, in his mind, he was — this was a come on for him, some kind of romantic overture. Whereas for me, it was unwanted and aggressive, very sexually aggressive."
For more context, Harth attended one of Trump's rallies last year as part of a makeup artist job. Here's what she told WNYC:
"I'm a makeup artist. The guy is a mess, OK? He really needed my services, and I'm a makeup artist that needs a job. Why would, if I was on friendly terms, why wouldn't I try to get that job?"
She added that she brought up the complaint and vowed not to talk, but:
"Yes, I said to him, very briefly, if anybody ever brings up anything about that, I'm not saying anything, only good things, OK, Donald? And he said OK, and he gave me like a hug, which to me meant, you know, if any normal person — you would assume they shut their mouth, too. But with Donald, he can't resist an opportunity to answer. You know what, if he could have said nothing, that would have been great, we wouldn't be sitting here talking here."
NPR has reached out to Harth for further comment.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: "Trump strongly denies these improprieties," Kristof wrote.
Trump took to Twitter in May, calling the Times' story "false, malicious & libelous."
NAME: Temple Taggart
TIME FRAME: 1997
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Former Miss Utah, 21 in 1997, the first year Trump owned Miss USA.
ALLEGATION: According to the New York Times, Taggart said:
"He kissed me directly on the lips. I thought: 'Oh, my gosh. Gross.' He was married to Marla Maples at the time. I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like, 'Wow, that's inappropriate.' "
She told the Times that he did it again after the pageant:
"At the gala celebration after the show, she said, Mr. Trump immediately zeroed in on her, telling her how much he liked her style and inviting her to visit him in New York to talk about her future. Soon enough, she said, he delivered another unwelcome kiss on her lips, this time in Trump Tower."
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: Per the Times: "Mr. Trump disputes this, saying he is reluctant to kiss strangers on the lips." He also told NBC this week, "I emphatically deny this ridiculous claim."
NAME: Karena Virginia
TIME FRAME: 1998
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Virginia says she was standing outside the U.S. Open when Trump approached her.
ALLEGATION: According to Yahoo! News, the then-27-year-old Virginia was waiting for a ride outside the U.S. Open in 1998. Here is her account of what happened:
"He then walked up to me and reached his right arm and grabbed my right arm. Then his hand touched the right inside of my breast. I was in shock. I flinched. 'Don't you know who I am. Don't you know who I am,' That's what he said to me. I felt intimidated and I felt powerless.
"Then my car pulled up and I got in. ... "
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: In an emailed statement, Jessica Ditto, deputy communications director, said the following: "Discredited political operative Gloria Allred, in another coordinated, publicity seeking attack with the Clinton campaign, will stop at nothing to smear Mr. Trump. Give me a break. Voters are tired of these circus-like antics and reject these fictional stories and the clear efforts to benefit Hillary Clinton."
NAME: Mindy McGillivray
TIME FRAME: 2003
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: McGillivray attended a party at Mar-a-Lago in January 2003.
ALLEGATION: McGillivray said Trump touched her buttocks, telling the Palm Beach Post:
"All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it's [my friend Ken Davidoff's] camera bag, that was my first instinct. I turn around and there's Donald. He sort of looked away quickly."
She said later:
"This was a pretty good nudge. More of a grab. It was pretty close to the center of my butt. I was startled. I jumped."
Davidoff corroborated the story to the Post, saying that immediately after the incident, she told him, "Donald just grabbed my ass!"
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks tells NPR, "There is no truth to this whatsoever."
NAME: Rachel Crooks
TIME FRAME: 2005
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Was a receptionist at a firm in Trump Tower
ALLEGATION: She says that immediately after she introduced herself to Trump, he kissed her cheeks, then moved to her mouth. "It was so inappropriate," she told the New York Times. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: Trump's statement under the Jessica Leeds entry (above) applies to this allegation as well.
NAME: Natasha Stoynoff
TIME FRAME: December 2005
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Was a People magazine writer covering Trump in 2005
ALLEGATION: Stoynoff writes in a piece posted Wednesday night about a 2005 trip she took to Mar-a-Lago to interview Trump and his wife, Melania. During a break, Trump offered to show her around, saying there was one room in particular he wanted her to see. Stoynoff's account describes what happened next as an "attack":
"We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat. ... I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trump's longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself."
Later, she writes, Trump said to her, "You know we're going to have an affair, don't you?"
NPR has reached out to Stoynoff and People magazine. Stoynoff did not respond, but People said that she is not giving interviews right now.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: In a tweet Thursday morning, Trump questioned why Stoynoff did not level her accusations in her 2005 People piece and concluded that "it did not happen."
In a speech on Thursday, Trump also said of Stoynoff: "You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so."
NAME: Summer Zervos
TIME FRAME: 2006
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Zervos was a contestant on The Apprentice
ALLEGATION: Speaking in a Friday news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, Zervos said that Trump kissed her "aggressively" and touched her breast. She said he also led her into the bedroom. After she walked out, he embraced her. She tried to push him away, and he "began thrusting his genitals."
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: In a statement Friday afternoon, Trump said he "vaguely remembered" Zervos as contestant on The Apprentice. "To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how I've conducted my life," he said. Trump also said Zervos had asked him for help, "asking that I visit her restaurant in California" in April 2016.
NAME: Cassandra Searles
TIME FRAME: 2013
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Was Miss Washington 2013 in the Miss USA pageant
ALLEGATION: According to a June Yahoo News story, Searles wrote a Facebook post decrying Trump's actions as a pageant leader:
"Do y'all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn't look him in the eyes? Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property? Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States. I love the idea of having a misogynist as the President. #HeWillProbablySueMe #iHaveWorseStoriesSoComeAtMeBro #Drumpf."
In the comments section, other contestants agreed with Searles, saying they remembered the experience, Yahoo reported.
Searles also wrote in the comments section, "He probably doesn't want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room," according to Yahoo.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: As yet, neither Trump nor his campaign has responded to Searles' allegations specifically.
NAME: Unnamed woman, friend of CNN anchor Erin Burnett
TIME FRAME: 2010
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Unclear
ALLEGATION: The woman told CNN that she met Trump in a Trump Tower boardroom in 2010. Here is what she told the cable news network:
"Trump took Tic Tacs, suggested I take them also. He then leaned in, catching me off guard, and kissed me almost on lips. I was really freaked out. ... After (the meeting), Trump asked me to come into his office alone. Was really unsure what to do. ... Figured I could handle myself. Anyway, once in his office he kept telling me how special I am and gave me his cell, asked me to call him. I ran the hell out of there."
Burnett has referenced this incident multiple times on the air — last week, as well as in a Wednesday night interview. NPR has reached out to CNN, which responded that Burnett "doesn't have anything else to add," and nor does her friend.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: NPR has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Entering Dressing Rooms Of Pageant Contestants
NAME: Mariah Billado
TIME FRAME: 1997
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Was Miss Vermont Teen USA in 1997
ALLEGATION: Billado alleged that Trump entered the dressing room while contestants were changing. Billado told BuzzFeed:
"I remember putting on my dress really quick, because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here.' Trump, she recalled, said something like, 'Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before.' "
Billado also recalled telling Ivanka Trump about the incident, telling Buzzfeed that Ivanka responded, "Yeah, he does that."
Four other contestants reached by BuzzFeed said they remembered it, but 11 said they don't remember seeing him in the dressing room.
However, per BuzzFeed:
"Of the 11 women who said they don't remember Trump coming into the changing room, some said it was possible that it happened while they weren't in the room or that they didn't notice. But most were dubious or dismissed the possibility out of hand."
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: The Trump campaign didn't respond directly to BuzzFeed's requests for comment. However, in a 2005 Howard Stern interview posted by CNN, Trump said he used to go into the dressing rooms during pageants.
" 'Well, what you could also say is that, as the owner of the pageant, it's your obligation to do that,' Trump said, before discussing how he got away with going backstage when the contestants were naked.
" 'Well, I'll tell you the funniest is that before a show, I'll go backstage and everyone's getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it,' Trump said. 'You know, I'm inspecting because I want to make sure that everything is good.'
" 'You know, the dresses. 'Is everyone okay?' You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody okay?' And you see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that. But no, I've been very good,' he added."
NAME: Bridget Sullivan
TIME FRAME: 2000
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Was Miss New Hampshire 2000
ALLEGATION: Sullivan told BuzzFeed Trump walked into the dressing room before the pageant:
"While preparing for the national broadcast in 2000, Trump came backstage to wish the contestants good luck, even though many of the women weren't dressed. 'The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking. We were all naked,' Sullivan said."
However, four other contestants told BuzzFeed they didn't remember this. In addition, several other contestants and one former Miss Universe employee told BuzzFeed of generally positive or neutral experiences with Trump in the same story.
WHAT TRUMP SAID: A Trump spokesman said that this story and others cited by BuzzFeed were "totally false."
NAME: Tasha Dixon
TIME FRAME: 2001
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Dixon was Miss Arizona 2001
ALLEGATION: "He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless, other girls were naked," Dixon told a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles.
"To have the owner come waltzing in when we're naked or half naked in a very physically vulnerable position, and then to have the pressure of the people that work for him telling us to go fawn all over him, go walk up to him, talk to him..." she added.
NPR has reached out to Dixon for further comment.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: "These accusations have no merit and have already been disproven by many other individuals who were present," Trump spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said in a statement to the CBS affiliate. She added that she thinks the allegation is politically motivated.
NAME: Unnamed woman
TIME FRAME: 2001
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: Miss USA contestant in 2001
ALLEGATION: The former contestant declined to be named but told The Guardian that Trump entered the dressing room she shared with another contestant when they were not dressed:
" 'Mr Trump just barged right in, didn't say anything, stood there and stared at us,' she recalled. Trump's attitude, she said, seemed to be: 'I can do this because I can.'
" 'He didn't walk in and say, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, I was looking for someone,' she continued. 'He walked in, he stood and he stared. He was doing it because he knew that he could.' "
Another contestant confirmed to The Guardian that the accuser told her about the incident after it happened.
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: The Guardian has yet to receive comment from the Trump campaign. NPR has also reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Other Incidents
NAME: Unnamed girl
TIME FRAME: 1992
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: The girl was visiting Trump Tower
WHAT HAPPENED: Wednesday night, CBS released video from a 1992 piece shot inside Trump Tower for Entertainment Tonight. The circumstances of the conversation are not clear, but in the video, Trump has a brief exchange with what sounds like a young girl, then comments to a companion:
Trump: You going up the escalator?
Girl: Yeah.
Trump: I'm going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: NPR has reached out to the Trump campaign about this video.
NAME: Two unnamed 14-year-old girls
TIME FRAME: 1992
CONNECTION TO TRUMP: The girls were singing in a youth choir outside the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
WHAT HAPPENED: The incident is from a brief Chicago Tribune wire story at the time (dug up this week by the Los Angeles Times). Here is the wire story in its entirety:
"Donald Trump turned up Monday for a carol sing by a youth choir outside Manhattan's Plaza Hotel. He asked two of the girls how old they were. After they responded they were 14, Trump said, 'Wow! Just think — in a couple of years I'll be dating you.' "
WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID: NPR has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
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