Amy Dorris
alleges she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump in 1997, when she was 24.
Speaking publicly about the alleged incident for the first time, the former
model claims Trump grabbed her as she came out of the bathroom of his VIP box
at the US Open tennis event, forced his tongue down her throat and held her in
a grip from which she could not escape. Trump's lawyers said he denied in the
strongest possible terms having ever harassed, abused or behaved improperly
toward Dorris
Donald Trump accused of sexual assault by former
model Amy Dorris
Exclusive: Amy Dorris alleges Trump forced his tongue
down her throat and groped her at 1997 US Open
‘It felt like
tentacles’: the women who accuse Trump of sexual misconduct
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Guardian’s investigative journalism – make a contribution
by Lucy
Osborne
Thu 17 Sep
2020 10.45 BSTLast modified on Thu 17 Sep 2020 11.06 BST
A former
model has come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her at the
US Open tennis tournament more than two decades ago, in an alleged incident
that left her feeling “sick” and “violated”.
In an
exclusive interview with the Guardian, Amy Dorris alleged that Trump accosted
her outside the bathroom in his VIP box at the tournament in New York on 5
September 1997.
Dorris, who
was 24 at the time, accuses Trump of forcing his tongue down her throat,
assaulting her all over her body and holding her in a grip she was unable to
escape from.
“He just
shoved his tongue down my throat and I was pushing him off. And then that’s
when his grip became tighter and his hands were very gropey and all over my
butt, my breasts, my back, everything.
“I was in
his grip, and I couldn’t get out of it,” she said, adding: “I don’t know what
you call that when you’re sticking your tongue just down someone’s throat. But
I pushed it out with my teeth. I was pushing it. And I think I might have hurt
his tongue.”
Via his
lawyers, Trump denied in the strongest possible terms having ever harassed,
abused or behaved improperly toward Dorris.
Dorris, who
lives in Florida, provided the Guardian with evidence to support her account of
her encounters with Trump, including her ticket to the US Open and six photos
showing her with the real estate magnate over several days in New York. Trump
was 51 at the time and married to his second wife, Marla Maples.
Her account
was also corroborated by several people she confided in about the incident.
They include a friend in New York and Dorris’s mother, both of whom she called
immediately after the alleged incident, as well as a therapist and friends she
spoke to in the years since. All said Dorris had shared with them details of
the alleged incident that matched what she later told the Guardian.
Dorris, now
48 and a mother to twin daughters, said she had considered speaking publicly
about the incident in 2016, when several women made public similar accusations
against the then Republican candidate for president. But she decided against
coming forward, in part because she thought that doing so might harm her
family.
“Now I feel
like my girls are about to turn 13 years old and I want them to know that you
don’t let anybody do anything to you that you don’t want,” she said. “And I’d
rather be a role model. I want them to see that I didn’t stay quiet, that I
stood up to somebody who did something that was unacceptable.”
Dorris said
she spent several days with Trump in September 1997 after being taken to New
York for a long weekend by her then boyfriend, Jason Binn. At the time, Dorris
was living with friends in Boca Raton, Florida, regularly travelling to Miami
for modelling and occasional acting work. Binn, the founder of several luxury
fashion and lifestyle magazines, was a friend of Trump; in 1999, he reportedly
described the real estate businessman as his “best friend”.
On Friday 5
September, Dorris said Binn took her to meet Trump at his office in Trump Tower
in Midtown Manhattan, before they went together to the US Open in Queens.
“He came on
very strong right away,” Dorris said of Trump. “It seemed typical of a certain
guy, people who just feel like they’re entitled to do what they want … even
though I was there with my boyfriend.”
The couple
were joined by other friends of Trump in his private box, a luxury carpeted
suite that had a balcony overlooking the court. Photos from the day show Dorris
alongside Trump and his friend Marylou Whitney.
Dorris said
the alleged assault occurred when she got up to go to the bathroom, which was
hidden behind a partition wall just metres from where Trump’s guests were
watching the tennis. “I was having some issues with my contact lenses,” she
said. “I remember going in there to moisten my lens.”
When she
came out, she alleges, Trump was waiting outside. “Initially I thought that he
was waiting to go to the bathroom, but that wasn’t the case, unfortunately,”
she said. She alleges Trump forced himself on her after a brief exchange in
which she recalls nervously laughing and telling him: “No, get away.”
She alleged
she told Trump “no, please stop” but “he didn’t care”. “It doesn’t matter who
you are,” she said. “Any time anyone says no, no means no. And that just didn’t
work out for me. It wasn’t enough.”
“I just
kind of was in shock,” she added. “I felt violated, obviously. But I still
wasn’t processing it and just was trying to go back to talking to everyone and
having a good time because, I don’t know, I felt pressured to be that way.”
Dorris
cannot recall if she told Binn the full details of the alleged assault, but she
says she asked him to tell Trump to leave her alone. She said she told Binn:
“He’s all over me. I can’t deal with this. You have to do something.”
Binn did
not respond to a request for comment. However, according to Trump’s lawyers,
Binn told them he had no recollection of Dorris telling him that anything
inappropriate had happened with Trump or that she felt uncomfortable around
him.
Dorris said
that soon after the alleged incident, she phoned a friend who lived in the city
and told them what had happened. “I think I just felt safe knowing that I had
someone in New York that I could go to, God forbid it got worse,” she said.
She said
Trump did not seriously assault her again during her stay in New York, but that
he continued to pursue her despite her firm rejection of his advances.
The day
after the alleged assault, Dorris and Binn returned to Trump’s box at the US
Open. Dorris said she decided to wear a “conservative” outfit of khakis, a blue
knit sweater and loafers in an effort to discourage further advances from
Trump.
The couple
stopped off at Trump’s apartment in Trump Tower on the way, where they posed
for photographs with celebrities who were also visiting the real estate tycoon
before attending the tennis, including the musicians Lenny Kravitz and Sean
Combs, AKA Puff Daddy.
.
Dorris said
Trump continued to pursue her, asking questions such as: “Could you see
yourself living here?” “It didn’t matter that I changed my clothes, it was
still the same situation,” she said. “I didn’t feel like myself that second day
at all. It did feel like something was taken away.”
Later they
were joined in Trump’s box by more VIP guests, including Leonardo DiCaprio and
the illusionist David Blaine, with whom they posed for photographs. DiCaprio,
Blaine, Kravitz and Combs did not respond to requests for comment.
Asked why
she continued to spend time with Binn and Trump in the days after the alleged
assault, Dorris said: “I was there from Florida and I was with Jason. I had no
money, nowhere to go. We were going from event to event and it was
overwhelming.” She did not fully process what had happened until later, she
added. “People spend years around people who have abused them, that’s what
happens when something traumatic happens, you freeze.”
Lawyers for
Trump said Dorris’s version of events did not stand up to any scrutiny and had
there been any inappropriate behaviour by Trump outside of the bathroom within
the VIP box, there would have been numerous witnesses.
Trump’s
lawyers said it seemed incredible that Dorris would voluntarily choose to be in
the vicinity of Trump, at the US Open and the Versace memorial, in the days
following the alleged assault. They said Binn had raised similar questions
about her account. Trump’s lawyers also questioned why Dorris sat next to Trump
at the Versace memorial, when she could have sat the other side of Binn.
They said
Dorris had never raised the allegations with a law enforcement agency or to
Trump, and said the timing of the claims so close to the November presidential
election suggested they might be politically motivated.
The
Guardian first heard about Dorris’s accusation against Trump via a model agent
she had worked with in Chicago, in whom she had confided. Dorris first shared
her allegation with the Guardian in confidence 15 months ago, but was unsure
about going public. She recently decided she was ready to take that step, in
part to be a role model to her daughters, who are now in their teens.
“When you
invade someone’s space, it doesn’t matter if you were raped, it’s sexual
assault, and it’s not OK,” she said. “You don’t touch someone unless they want
to be touched. And I did nothing to encourage him to touch me.”
Dorris said
she was also frustrated to hear Trump’s many other accusers being accused
themselves of lying. “I’m sick of him getting away with this,” she said. “I’m
tired of being quiet. It’s kind of cathartic. I just want to get this out. And
I want people to know that this is the man, this is our president. This is the
kind of thing he does and it’s unacceptable.”
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