Donald Trump at his marriage ceremony in 1993 (L) and Mannequin Stacey Williams (R) stands at a Sports activities Illustrated promotional occasion January 23, 1996 in New York Metropolis.
Ron Galella | Ron Galella Assortment | Getty Photographs
Thirty-one years after Stacey Williams says she was groped by Donald Trump whereas Jeffrey Epstein watched, the 56-year-old author, advisor and former Sports activities Illustrated swimsuit mannequin went public this week together with her allegation.
Williams, 56, instructed her story on a “Survivors for Kamala” Zoom name Monday evening that was open to the general public and that organizers mentioned a whole lot of individuals joined. It featured an array of ladies discussing their experiences with sexual violence and included actor Ashley Judd and Tarana Burke, who based the #MeToo motion.
Williams, a registered Democrat who attended the 2008 Democratic Nationwide Conference and has been concerned in liberal causes up to now, mentioned on the Zoom name that her resolution to come back ahead was partially associated to the election.
“I figured it was time to share this, and I am able to win this election,” Williams mentioned on the Zoom name. “The considered that monster being again within the White Home is my absolute worst nightmare.”
In an interview with NBC Information on Wednesday, Williams mentioned her resolution to come back ahead was not made along with the Democratic Celebration. Requested whether or not she had had any communications with Vice President Kamala Harris’ marketing campaign, she mentioned, “None in any respect.”
Trump marketing campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt flatly denied Williams’ allegation in an announcement. “These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and introduced on a Harris Marketing campaign name two weeks earlier than the election, are unequivocally false,” the assertion mentioned partially.
NBC Information spoke to seven individuals who mentioned they mentioned the allegations with Williams between 2006 and 2022. All of them mentioned they discovered Williams and her declare to be credible and constant. Her allegation was first printed in The Guardian and first broadcast by CNN.
Williams seems to be the primary individual to publicly allege sexual misconduct by Trump wherein Epstein performed a job. Not one of the dozens of ladies in Epstein’s orbit whom NBC Information has interviewed during the last seven years have accused Trump of misconduct that concerned Epstein.
Epstein pled responsible in 2008 to a state cost of procuring a minor for prostitution and served time in jail in Florida. He died by suicide in 2019 in a federal jail in Manhattan as he awaited trial on costs of intercourse trafficking minors.
“I really feel very snug and able to inform it,” Williams instructed NBC Information, “after which I can deal with the backlash.”
A go to to Trump Tower
Williams mentioned that she first met Epstein at a dinner in 1992 and that they started spending time collectively when each had been on the town. She mentioned that Epstein was not her boyfriend and that the connection was by no means sexual.
She and Epstein attended a Christmas celebration that 12 months on the Plaza Resort — which Trump owned on the time. She recalled seeing Trump on the celebration and mentioned it was clear that the 2 males had been pals.
Later, within the “later winter, early spring” of 1993, Williams recalled, she was strolling with Epstein close to Fifth Avenue when he advised visiting Trump at Trump Tower. It was a sunny day, she recalled, and she or he was not carrying a coat, she instructed NBC Information.
She mentioned on the Zoom name, “We went to Trump Tower and went up the elevator, and moments later, Trump was greeting us.”
Inside moments of assembly him, Trump “pulled me into him and began groping me. He put his palms throughout my breasts and my waist, butt and I froze,” Williams mentioned on the Zoom name, her voice seeming to crack as she described being touched. “And I froze as a result of I used to be so deeply confused about what was occurring as a result of the palms had been transferring throughout me.”
Williams mentioned that, as Trump groped her, the 2 males spoke calmly with one another.
“These two males had been, like, smiling at each other and persevering with on of their dialog,” she mentioned.
Williams instructed NBC Information that the 2 males spoke about her “as an object.” She mentioned they centered on her appears and her appearances in Sports activities Illustrated in a dialog she mentioned was “gross.” She mentioned that the whole incident lasted 5 to 10 minutes and that it occurred in a reception space outdoors Trump’s workplace.
Williams mentioned that after the encounter, when she and Epstein had been again out on the road, Epstein turned livid and started “berating” her with questions. “Why did you let him try this?” he requested, in response to Williams. The truth that Epstein blamed her disoriented her, Williams mentioned.
“He made me really feel so disgusting and, I bear in mind, at that second so totally confused,” Williams recalled. “I felt so humiliated and so sick to my abdomen and so upset.”
She added, “I used to be somebody who actually prided myself as being one of many robust fashions who was sort of problematic as a result of I fought again towards the predators of the trade.”
“After which the following, most likely the following, sensation that I bear in mind was simply disgrace and embarrassment,” she mentioned. “I had allowed one thing to occur that I may have stopped.”
Williams and Epstein by no means mentioned the incident once more, she mentioned. Williams was deeply troubled and minimize off contact with Epstein shortly afterward. She mentioned she had no consciousness that Epstein had abused younger ladies and damaged the legislation till media reviews about him emerged.
Days after the incident, a postcard arrived at her modeling company addressed to her, Williams recalled. It had Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on the entrance and what seemed to be a handwritten message from him on the again. Williams mentioned she nonetheless has the postcard, and she or he shared images with NBC Information.
“Stacey, your property away from residence, Love Donald” was written on the again, in handwriting that seems much like Trump’s. The postcard just isn’t postmarked or dated.
“I had quite a lot of disgrace, and I blamed myself for it. And that made me not wish to speak about it,” Williams mentioned.
She added that she by no means thought of reporting the allegations to the police. She mentioned she by no means encountered Trump once more.
NBC Information spoke to seven individuals who mentioned Williams beforehand instructed them in regards to the alleged encounter with Trump, most of whom requested anonymity. Six had been longtime pals and acquaintances. The primary was instructed in 2006, one other was instructed earlier than Trump was a presidential candidate, and the latest was instructed in 2022.
Ally Gutwillinger, a buddy, mentioned Williams instructed her the week after Trump introduced his presidential marketing campaign in 2015 that she had been groped by Trump with Epstein current.
“I bear in mind it clearly. I used to be in her home,” Gutwillinger instructed NBC Information. “I noticed the postcard of Mar-a-Lago sitting there. And she or he instructed me to show it over. And it mentioned, ‘Stacey, your property away from residence. Love Donald.'”
Williams’s declare that Epstein launched her to Trump echoes different ladies’s descriptions of Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, introducing ladies to people who sexually abused them in some method.
Deciding to talk out
Two years in the past, Williams was interviewed for a movie in regards to the Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit Version, “Past the Gaze.” At one level, she mentioned on digital camera that she was groped by a former president in entrance of Epstein, however she didn’t identify Trump. A number of weeks in the past, she realized that the movie could be proven on the Woodstock Movie Competition earlier this month.
Williams instructed NBC Information she thought it was necessary that she present extra context about what occurred, on condition that the premiere of the movie was inside weeks of the election.
“If that is to be on the market, I would like to inform my story, and I really feel prepared,” she mentioned.
By a buddy, she was linked with the “Survivors for Kamala” name, a coalition of teams and people aligned in help of Harris.
Trump has confronted allegations of sexual misconduct lately from quite a few ladies, together with former columnist E. Jean Carroll. Final 12 months, a New York jury discovered Trump accountable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan division retailer within the Nineteen Nineties however not accountable for her alleged rape. He has continued to disclaim all allegations of sexual misconduct.
The most recent allegation towards Trump comes lower than two weeks earlier than Election Day and with early voting having already began in a number of states.
In a 2005 video that turned often known as the “Entry Hollywood” tape after it turned public in 2016, launched simply weeks earlier than the election that 12 months, Trump may be heard saying, “I am mechanically drawn to lovely ladies — I simply begin kissing them, it is like a magnet. Simply kiss. I do not even wait. And while you’re a star, they allow you to do it. You are able to do something,” he mentioned, together with “seize ’em by the p—-.”
Williams mentioned she had slowly grow to be extra snug with telling her story over time.
“He harmed me,” Williams instructed NBC Information. “Sexual assault is dangerous. It damages folks.”
