E Jean Carroll, US agony aunt, says Donald Trump raped her 23 years ago (2024)

E Jean Carroll, a veteran American agony aunt who takes crowds of women on a #MeToo tour of locations associated with New York’s most notoriously creepy men, has accused Donald Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store.

Bergdorf Goodman on 58th Street has become the meeting point for the Elle magazine columnist’s twice-monthly tour of the haunts favoured by the city’s “most hideous men” — including Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein.

The luxury department store is where Carroll alleges that Trump attacked her 23 years ago, after they had joked about her trying on a see-through piece of lilac lingerie he was interested in buying as a gift.

In New York magazine the columnist, 75, writes: “The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips.”

She alleges that Trump, known at the time as a property tycoon, recognised her as “that advice lady” from the talk show.

She claims that he pinned her arm against the wall of an unlocked changing room and forced himself on her before she pushed him off in a “colossal struggle”.

After the alleged event Carroll did not go to the police but confided in two journalist friends, who have confirmed her account. One friend told her at the time: “Tell no one. Forget it! He has 200 lawyers. He’ll bury you.”

More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. His first wife, Ivana Trump, alleged in divorce proceedings that he had raped her and pulled out handfuls of her hair — accusations she later retracted.

A former contestant on Trump’s The Apprentice television show is suing him for defamation after he denied having kissed and groped her non-consensually.

In the article Carroll cites the treatment of the women who made these claims as the reason she did not speak out earlier. “Joining the 15 women who’ve come forward with credible stories about how the man grabbed, badgered, belittled, mauled, molested, and assaulted them, only to see the man turn it around, deny, threaten and attack them, never sounded like much fun,” she writes.

Trump has dismissed Carroll’s accusation as “fake news” and pointed to Bergdorf’s inability to provide any video footage of the day in question. He accused her of seeking publicity for her new book, What Do We Need Men For?.

“I’ve never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation,” he said in a statement. “It should be sold in the fiction section.”

The president is only No 20 on Carroll’s list of the “hideous men” she has encountered, though he has the least complimentary nickname, “Walking Phallus”.

At No 15 is Les Moonves, former chief executive of CBS, whom she accuses of groping her in a lift when she interviewed him in 1997 — an allegation he denies. CBS ousted Moonves last September after assault allegations against him emerged.

Carroll includes both the CBS headquarters and Trump Tower on her Hideous Men itinerary around Manhattan, which she describes as the “fiercest, most spine-chilling tour of all”.

She was due to conduct another tour today, according to various New York event websites.

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