Yet Another Woman Goes on the Record Saying Donald Trump Sexually Assaulted Her
It’s overwhelmingly clear now that Donald Trump has been sexually harassing and occasionally assaulting women for much of his adult life, and has only gotten away with it because, as he said, he’s famous.
But he isn’t getting away with it now that he’s running for president: Another Woman Says Donald Trump Groped Her: ‘I Felt Intimidated and Powerless.’
Karena Virginia, a yoga instructor an empowerment coach, said at a news conference Thursday that Trump harassed and groped her during a chance encounter at the U.S Open in 1998. As she was waiting for a car to take her home, Virginia said she overheard Trump appraising her body. “I was surprised when I overheard him talking to the other men about me,” Virginia told reporters in New York. “He said ‘hey, look at this one, we haven’t seen her before, look at those legs,’ as though I was an object rather than a person.”
Virginia said Trump, a total stranger, then grabbed her arm and touched her breast.
“I was in shock,” Virginia said. “I flinched. He said, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ I felt intimidated and powerless. I said ‘yes.’”
She was 27 at the time. Trump, whose campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was in his early 50’s.
When she got into the car, Virginia said, “my shock turned to shame.” She said it made her “disinclined to wear short dresses or high heels.”
Virginia said she ran into Trump again about five years ago, and he “looked me up and down in a lecherous manner.” After this encounter, Virginia said she finally realized that, “I was the victim and he had violated me when he groped me years earlier.”
She then directed a portion of her remarks directly to Trump: “Mr. Trump, perhaps you do not remember me or what you did to me so many years ago. But I can assure you that I remember you and what you did to me as though it was yesterday. Your random moment of sexual pleasure came at my expense and affected me greatly.”