More Women Accuse Donald Trump Of Sexual Misconduct
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two more women came forward on Friday to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, including a former contestant from a reality show that starred the Republican presidential nominee.
The latest accounts come after several other women reported in recent days that Trump groped or kissed them without their consent. Trump has denied the allegations, calling the women liars.
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice," said Trump made unwanted sexual advances toward her at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2007, while photographer Kristin Anderson alleged Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York nightclub in the early 1990s.
Zervos, 41, appeared at a news conference Friday with Gloria Allred, a well-known Los Angeles attorney who has previously represented women who have accused celebrities of sexual misconduct.
Zervos was a contestant on The Apprentice in 2006 and said she later contacted Trump to inquire about a job with one of his businesses.
Zervos said she had an initial meeting with Trump, where he discussed a potential job with her. When they parted, he kissed her on the lips and asked for her phone number, she said.
She said weeks later Trump called to invite her to meet him at a Los Angeles area hotel. Zervos said that during their second meeting, Trump became sexually aggressive, kissing her open-mouthed and touching her breasts.
Zervos said she rejected Trump's advances and he soon began talking as if they were in a job interview. She said she was later offered a low-paying job at a Trump-owned golf course.
Zervos said she is a Republican and has no political agenda in coming forward. Allred said her client told her parents and others about the incident shortly after it occurred.
Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Zervos' account.
In a story published online Friday, Anderson told The Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York nightclub in the early 1990s when a hand reached up her skirt and touched her through her underwear.
Anderson, then in her early 20s, said she pushed the hand away, turned around and recognized Trump as the man who had groped her. Then recently divorced, Trump was then a frequent presence in the New York tabloids, and he was regular presence on the Manhattan club scene.
"He was so distinctive looking - with the hair and the eyebrows. I mean, nobody else has those eyebrows," Anderson told the newspaper. She said the assault was random and occurred with "zero conversation."
Trump's campaign denied the allegations by Anderson. At a rally Friday in North Carolina, Trump said "phony accusers" were making accusations "for a little fame" and that he "has no idea who these women are." His rally was going on at the same time as Zervos' news conference.
Anderson did not immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press.
At the time of the incident, Anderson was trying to start a career as a model while working as a makeup artist and restaurant hostess. She said the episode lasted no more than 30 seconds.
Anderson told the Post that she and her companions were "very grossed out and weirded out" and thought, "OK, Donald is gross. We all know he's gross. Let's just move on."
The Post said it contacted Anderson, now 46, after a friend she had told about the incident recounted it to a reporter. Other friends also told the Post that Anderson recounted the same story to them years ago.
Anderson's decision to speak publicly about her experience follows last week's disclosure by the Post of a 2005 video in which Trump boasted that his celebrity gave him the ability to grab women "by the p----. You can do anything." Trump apologized for those remarks, but also dismissed them as "locker room talk."
Anderson disagreed.
"It's a sexual assault issue, and it's something that I've kept quiet on my own," she 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."
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