A former Sports activities Illustrated swimsuit mannequin is alleging that former President Donald Trump groped her within the Nineties, in what she believes was an try to point out off for Jeffrey Epstein.
In her first on-camera interview in regards to the allegation, with CNN Thursday, Stacey Williams provided her most detailed public account of the alleged encounter, which she stated occurred exterior Trump’s workplace in Trump Tower within the early Nineties when she was in her 20s and was briefly courting Epstein. CNN has spoken to a few associates of Williams, who every stated that she instructed them in regards to the incident with Trump and Epstein, in 2006, in 2015 and in 2018, respectively.
Williams stated that she and Epstein had been strolling collectively on Fifth Avenue in New York Metropolis in 1993 when Epstein introduced her to Trump Tower to see Trump.
Trump greeted them exterior his workplace, she stated.
“The second he was in entrance of me, he pulled me into him, and his palms had been simply on me and didn’t come off,” Williams stated. “After which the palms began transferring, and so they had been on the, you already know, on the aspect of my breasts, on my hips, again right down to my butt, again up, form of then, you already know – they had been simply on me the entire time. And I froze. I couldn’t perceive what was occurring.”
Williams stated that Epstein and Trump continued speaking whereas Trump’s palms had been on her, “ one another and smiling.” She thought it was attainable an assistant to Trump might have come out and in of the room whereas they had been there, however she will’t bear in mind for positive.
“I feel I in all probability was attempting to smile and undergo the motions of being engaged the way in which you’d in a social state of affairs. However it was an out of physique expertise,” she stated. “So, I don’t know if I spoke, I don’t know if I answered questions, I don’t know. It was one of many strangest moments of my life.”
Not lengthy after the encounter, Williams stated she acquired a postcard from Trump, delivered to her modeling company through courier, with a image of Palm Seashore on the entrance that featured his Mar-a-Lago resort.
“Stacey, Your property away from dwelling. Love, Donald,” the undated postcard learn on the again.
The Trump marketing campaign denied Williams’ allegations, noting she shared her story on a Zoom name on Monday night at a “Survivors for Kamala” occasion supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential run towards Trump, although the group is unaffiliated with the Harris marketing campaign.
“These accusations, introduced on a Harris Marketing campaign name two weeks earlier than the election, are false,” stated Trump marketing campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. “It’s apparent this pretend story was contrived by Kamala Harris’ marketing campaign to distract from the deeply regarding and newly unearthed allegations that the Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff ‘forcefully slapped’ his ex-girlfriend.”
A spokesperson for Emhoff denied claims made in a tabloid report that he assaulted a former girlfriend in 2012.
After the publication of this story, Leavitt argued in an extra assertion that the handwriting on the postcard was not Trump’s.
Williams stated she met Epstein within the yr earlier than the alleged incident when her agent invited her to a dinner in New York, which Epstein additionally attended. She noticed him once more that yr at a Christmas celebration hosted by Trump at his Plaza Resort, the place she stated that the three of them spoke collectively. She had met Trump as soon as earlier than, she stated, at a taping of Saturday Night time Dwell.
These near Williams, together with one one that knew Williams as early because the mid-Nineties, instructed CNN that Williams had spoken to them about her previous relationship with Epstein. Metropolis property information present {that a} belief related to Epstein bought a brownstone simply off Fifth Avenue in 1992.
After the Christmas celebration, Williams stated on the Zoom name that Epstein “expressed a variety of curiosity in me, and we began seeing one another.” She instructed CNN that they might usually go on walks, and that Epstein spoke regularly about “Donald.”
On the time, she stated, nobody round Epstein – a convicted intercourse offender who died in jail in 2019 earlier than he might face trial on federal sex-trafficking fees – appeared to have data of his predatory habits. “I wouldn’t have sat down at that desk if I’d recognized what he was as much as,” she stated.
Trump and Epstein
Trump and Epstein
When she and Epstein left Trump Tower, Williams stated that he was silent whereas they rode down the elevator. As soon as they obtained exterior, she stated Epstein berated her for permitting Trump to the touch her.
Afterward, Williams stated she felt a “wave of disgrace” over what had occurred.
“I simply had this actually sickening feeling that it was coordinated, that in some way the entire thing was – I used to be rolled in there like a bit of meat for some sort of bizarre, twisted sport. And that simply made it even worse. And I simply couldn’t give it some thought, face it, speak about it for a really very long time,” she stated. “I put it in somewhat field within me, turned the important thing, locked it.”
She stated she noticed Epstein one or two instances after that earlier than breaking issues off. “I spotted that there was one thing very darkish and disturbing about him, and eventually instructed him to lose my quantity and keep very far-off from me,” she stated.
Williams by no means spoke to Trump once more, she stated, and prevented the longer term president in social conditions.
“Regardless that I didn’t speak about it, I do do not forget that I assumed there was any probability he was going to be someplace, I wouldn’t go,” she stated. “It affected me on a on a deep stage. I used to be humiliated.”
She acquired the Palm Seashore postcard signed by Trump and delivered through courier not lengthy after the encounter, although she’s undecided when as a result of her fan mail usually piled up at her modeling company. The postcard producer instructed CNN that the postcard was seemingly from the Nineties however didn’t have information for when it went out of circulation.
Williams’ account of Trump groping her provides to a prolonged record of ladies who’ve alleged, since he ran for president in 2016, that he groped, kissed or assaulted them. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations. One in every of Trump’s accusers, E. Jean Carroll, received two defamation lawsuits towards Trump over the previous two years over the previous president’s feedback disparaging her and denying her rape allegations.
Trump has additionally lengthy sought to publicly distance himself from Epstein, since he first confronted fees associated to inappropriate sexual conduct with underage ladies within the mid-2000s. There are images and movies of the 2 collectively within the Nineties and 2000s.
In 2002, Trump instructed New York Journal, “I’ve recognized Jeff for 15 years. Terrific man,” including that Epstein “likes lovely ladies as a lot as I do.”
In July 2019, Epstein was charged with intercourse trafficking minors, and he died by suicide in a New York jail cell a month later. After Epstein was charged, Trump instructed reporters that he didn’t learn about his misconduct.
“I used to be not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein,” Trump stated. “And also you watched individuals yesterday saying that I threw him out of a membership. I didn’t need something to do with him. That was many, a few years in the past. It reveals you one factor: that I’ve good style. OK?”
Protecting it quiet
Protecting it quiet
Williams instructed CNN that she didn’t inform anybody about her allegations on the time they occurred.
When Trump introduced his run for president in 2015, certainly one of Williams’ associates stated she went to her home and noticed that Williams had put the postcard on her kitchen countertop. Williams instructed the buddy to show the postcard over, the place she noticed Trump’s message and signature. Williams then instructed her that Trump had groped her.
Williams stated that she discovered the postcard in a pile of mementos she’d stored from her modeling days. She didn’t bear in mind telling associates in regards to the incident, she stated, till round 2015 when Trump introduced he was operating for president.
An individual near Williams stated she didn’t inform her husband, whom she married years after the alleged incident, what had occurred. This supply stated she did share that she had recognized Epstein years beforehand.
Williams stated she didn’t consider she shared something with him in regards to the episode with Trump and Epstein, although she did share some particulars of her time within the New York modeling world within the Nineties. “He knew I suffered rather a lot,” she stated.
“I prided myself on being sort of powerful and preventing again, and that was the one time I didn’t, and I feel that’s truthfully why I locked that and buried it greater than anything,” Williams stated.
A call to come back ahead
A call to come back ahead
Throughout Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign, Williams stated she selected to not come ahead partially for household issues. After the #MeToo motion in 2017, she stated she started to search out avenues to start discussing it. Williams spoke off-the-record to a podcast in 2019 about Epstein, together with elevating the allegation about Trump, based on a producer of the podcast.
Williams has additionally posted sometimes on social media accounts in 2020 and 2024 about a few of the particulars of the incident, although her social media accounts are not public.
The previous mannequin says that it was a participation in a documentary in regards to the Sports activities Illustrated swimsuit concern that in the end pushed her to talk out in a extra public manner. She was interviewed for the documentary in 2022, the place she referenced the incident with Trump, although she didn’t point out him by title.
That documentary premiered this previous weekend. Williams stated when she was knowledgeable lately that her remark about “the previous president” can be included, that prompted her to determine to share her story in a extra public manner.
“You need to be actually, actually prepared, and I wasn’t,” she stated of coming ahead earlier. “I feel there’s an evolution to contending together with your abuse, or some of these incidents, and it doesn’t occur in a single day.”
Williams stated she’s been a Democratic supporter since highschool, and he or she’s been engaged as a Democratic volunteer for many years. Williams additionally has labored on local weather and power points, together with with a “Clear Tech for Obama” group, which was separate from his marketing campaign, she stated. Williams has not spoken with the Harris marketing campaign, based on a spokesperson.
Whereas the election is lower than two weeks away, Williams argued that her choice to talk out now was not pushed by the presidential marketing campaign, however by the timing of the documentary’s launch.
On the similar time, she made her emotions clear about Trump’s presidential marketing campaign on the “Survivors for Kamala” name– and stated that she hoped others can be impressed by her story to not assist him.
“The considered that monster being again within the White Home is my absolute worst nightmare,” she stated.
This story has been up to date with further remark from a Trump marketing campaign spokeswoman.
