A third woman accuses George H.W. Bush of groping her
A third woman is accusing former President George H.W. Bush of groping at a 2014 event in Houston.
Christina Baker Kline wrote about the situation in an essay in Slate, explaining that she was invited to the event as a guest author for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy fundraiser. During a photo-op, she wrote that the former president called her "beautiful" and asked her if she wanted to know his favorite book.
"By now the photographer was readying the shot. My husband stood on one side of the wheelchair, and I stood on the other. President Bush put his arm around me, low on my back. His comic timing was impeccable. 'David Cop-a-feel,' he said, and squeezed my butt, hard, just as the photographer snapped the photo. Instinctively, I swiped his hand away," she wrote.
She said that Bush spokesman, Jim McGrath, released a statement that he had put out earlier in the week, responding to other allegations from women.
"At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures. To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke — and on occasion, he has patted women's rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner. Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate. To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely."
Earlier in the week, actress Jordan Gronlick claimed Bush grabbed her bottom after a stage performance in Maine in 2016. Gronlick said the incident took place during a group photo with other cast members and Bush's wife, Barbara. And another actress, Heather Lind, wrote on Instagram, "Bush sexually assaulted me while posing for a...photo."
