Published: Salon (October 14, 2016)
On Friday, two more women accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting them, joining a list that has grown and grown since he told Anderson Cooper that he never sexually assaulted any woman during Sunday’s debate.
Photographer Kristin Anderson claimed that, when she was a model in the early 1990s, Trump sat next to her on a red velvet couch at a Manhattan nightclub and touched her vagina through her underwear. She said that, when she turned to see who had touched her, she immediately recognized Trump because “he was so distinctive looking — with the hair and the eyebrows. I mean, nobody else has those eyebrows.”
Anderson’s story was confirmed by a friend who remembered being told about it a few days after the fact and by a fellow photographer who recalled hearing the story at a dinner in March 2007.
The Trump campaign denied Anderson’s claim. In a “Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous.”
Anderson made it clear to The Washington Post that she doesn’t have any political axe to grind and supports neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton in this election. Instead she came forward after reading a recent article from The New York Times that detailed other sexual assault allegations made against Trump. “It’s a sexual assault issue, and it’s something that I’ve kept quiet on my own,” Anderson said to the paper. “And I’ve always kept quiet. And why should I keep quiet? Actually, all of the women should speak up, and if you’re touched inappropriately, tell somebody and speak up about it. Actually go to the authorities and press some charges. It’s not okay.”
Former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos also came forward Friday during a press conference that was carried live by MSNBC.
Zervos recalled a torturous evening in 2007 with Mr. Trump at a Los Angeles bungalow: “He put me in an embrace and I tried to push him away. I pushed his chest to put space between us and I said, ‘Come on man, get real.’ He repeated my words back to me, ‘Get real,’ as he began thrusting his genitals.”