Stacey Williams, a former model, was exposed to Donald Trump in 1993 when he stopped by to visit her then-boyfriend, the late financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein. He said he thought he had been groped to get rid of his body.
In her first in-depth on-camera interview since discussing the alleged assault with the Guardian, Williams told CNN late Thursday that she remembered the former president and credited the real estate mogul with inspiring her. Epstein said they smiled at each other. The whole incident was a “coordinated” game between the two men.
Her testimony comes just weeks before the presidential election, when polls show Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris tied. President Trump rejected Williams’ explanation.
“The moment he came in front of me, he pulled me into him and his hand was just on me and didn’t let go,” Williams told the Guardian. He told CNN, repeating his own testimony.
“Then his hand started moving from the side of my chest to my waist, back to my butt and back up. It was on top of me the entire time and I froze,” she said.
Williams briefly dated Epstein in the 1990s. At the time, she told the Guardian that she and Epstein were walking through Manhattan when Epstein suggested they visit Trump at the Trump Tower complex on Fifth Avenue.
The two were good friends, she said. Trump later distanced himself from Epstein after he was convicted as a sex offender in Florida, and years earlier, Epstein was arrested and tried in New York on federal sex charges in 2019. He committed suicide while in custody awaiting his death.
She added, as she recalled to the Guardian, that she now believes the incident was planned from the beginning by Epstein and Trump. She claims that when she encountered Trump, he immediately grabbed her and groped her right in front of her boyfriend.
“The context didn’t make sense because my hand was held and he and Jeffrey just kept talking and looking at each other and smiling,” she said. Later, when the couple left, Epstein reprimanded her for allowing Trump to grope her, and she said the entire incident left her confused and sick.
“I had this really unpleasant feeling that it was being conditioned. I rolled into it like a piece of meat in some kind of weird twisted game,” she told CNN. . “I felt a wave of shame,” she said, and took the memory of the incident and “put it in a little box inside me and turned the key and locked it.”
In her first exclusive interview with the Guardian this week, Ms Williams said she felt at the time that Mr Trump and Mr Epstein were “really, really good friends”. Williams also said that Trump later sent her an undated postcard depicting a view of Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., mansion, which she also shared.
The postcard said, “Second home.” “I love you, Donald.”
The Trump campaign said in an interview with CNN that Williams’ claims were “a lie made up by the Kamala Harris campaign” to distract from a second incident in which Doug Emhoff is accused of slapping his ex-girlfriend. “It’s a story about.” A campaign spokesperson for Vice President Harris denied the allegations against her husband earlier this month.
Mr. Williams’ testimony comes after a number of people, from author E. Jean Carroll, who was ultimately acquitted by a civil jury of sexual abuse charges against Mr. Trump, to his ex-wife, Ivana Trump, accused Mr. Trump of sexual abuse. She joins a long list of women who have come forward with accusations of assault. accused the former president of raping her in her divorce affidavit.
Williams said she was encouraged to come forward about the incident after the release of Sports Illustrated’s recent documentary on the swimsuit controversy, “Beyond the Gaze.”
“I can’t control when the documentary comes out, and I can’t control if it comes out two weeks before the election,” Williams told CNN. Williams had alluded to the incident in social media comments, but had not told her story in detail until this week.
“It takes a lot of courage and you have to really prepare for that onslaught, and I’m ready now,” she said. “Please bring it.”
Information and support for those affected by sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations: In the United States, Rainn offers support at 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines are available at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html.
