A woman has accused President Donald Trump of grabbing her vagina without her consent and forcibly kissing her at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the early 2000s, according to a book excerpt published Wednesday.
Karen Johnson told journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy in their new book, “All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator,” that the president assaulted her while she was attending a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago with her husband and a relative. The book, excerpted by Esquire Wednesday morning, also reportedly includes 43 new accusations of sexual misconduct against Trump. The excerpt does not detail the 42 other allegations.
Johnson told Levine and El-Faizy that she was shocked when the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape was released a month before the 2016 election.
“When he says that thing, ‘Grab them in the pussy,’ that hits me hard because when he grabbed me and pulled me into the tapestry, that’s where he grabbed me ― he grabbed me there in my front and pulled me in,” she said.
Johnson told the authors that she was walking to the restroom at Mar-a-Lago shortly after midnight when Trump grabbed her from behind a tapestry and began kissing her without her consent.
“I was grabbed and pulled behind a tapestry, and it was him. And I’m a tall girl and I had six-inch heels on, and I still remember looking up at him. And he’s strong, and he just kissed me,” she says in the book. “I was so scared because of who he was.”
Johnson, who was in her late 30s at the time, said her husband and relative had gone home earlier because her husband, who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, wasn’t feeling well. She said that Trump pursued her after the incident ― calling her constantly and inviting her to visit him in New York. Johnson said she rebuffed him each time and eventually he stopped calling.
The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 20 women. The accusations against the president range from sexual harassment to groping and even rape. The president and his administration have repeatedly denied all of the accusations, tweeting that women he didn’t know were making “false accusations.” In 2017, then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that all of Trump’s accusers were lying.
Head over to Esquire to read the full excerpt.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.