A new woman accused Donald Trump on Friday of touching her inappropriately at a Manhattan nightclub, according to a Washington Post report, in which she urged other alleged victims of the Republican presidential nominee to “speak up” and even “press some charges.”
Kristin Anderson said she was visiting a New York City club with a group of girlfriends in the 1990s when a man seated next to her reached over, slid his hand up her skirt and touched her genitals. After shoving the stranger’s hand away and getting up to flee the scene, Anderson said she looked back and recognized the man as Trump.
“He was so distinctive looking — with the hair and the eyebrows,” she told the Post in a video interview published Friday, just days after two other women accused the billionaire of groping them without their consent.
Anderson, who lived in Manhattan for nearly two decades, said she was “very grossed out and weirded out” by the encounter, but declined to report it as sexual assault at the time. She did, however, tell multiple friends over the course of several years after it happened, many of whom corroborated her account in interviews with the Post. The paper pointed out that Anderson did not approach the Post, but was contacted by a reporter who had been tipped off.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks denied Anderson’s “phony allegation,” claiming the 46-year-old photographer is “looking to get some free publicity.”
“It is totally ridiculous,” Hicks told the Post.
Trump has vigorously denied each of the allegations made against him and promised on Thursday to release evidence “very soon” that he claims will exonerate him. During Sunday’s presidential debate, the GOP nominee told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he had never touched or kissed a woman without her consent, despite saying in an audio tape released last week: “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”
Anderson said she decided to come forward after listening to the audio from the tape and reading the testimonies of Jessica Leeds and Rachel Cooks, two women who accused Trump of groping them in a New York Times story published Wednesday.
“It’s a sexual assault issue, and it’s something that I’ve kept quiet on my own,” Anderson told the Post. “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 OK,” she added.
Anderson told the Post that she does not plan to support Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
