New Trump allegation: Ex-model says he assaulted her at U.S. Open tennis in '97
WASHINGTON — Former model Amy Dorris alleged in a new interview that President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York in 1997 by forcing his tongue down her throat and groping her body.
"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," Dorris said in an interview published Thursday in The Guardian newspaper.
Dorris said that the incident occurred outside the bathroom in Trump’s VIP box at the open on Sept. 5, 1997, the report said. Dorris was 24 at the time and Trump was 51.
"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."
The Guardian reported that through his lawyers Trump denied in the strongest possible terms having ever harassed, abused or behaved improperly toward Dorris.
Trump's lawyers noted that Dorris didn't report it to police at the time and suggested the timing of her coming forward now, less than two months before the election, could be politically motivated, The Guardian said.
Jenna Ellis, legal adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement to NBC News that the "allegations are totally false. We will consider every legal means available to hold The Guardian accountable for its malicious publication of this unsubstantiated story. This is just another pathetic attempt to attack President Trump right before the election.”
The paper said it corroborated the alleged assault with Dorris' mother and a friend, both of whom she immediately called after the incident, and with other friends and her therapist. NBC News was not immediately able to independently confirm those details.
Her then-boyfriend, Jason Binn, did not respond to a request for comment, The Guardian said. However, Trump’s lawyers said Binn told them that he had no recollection of Dorris telling him that anything inappropriate had happened with Trump or that she felt uncomfortable around him, the paper reported. She spent time with Trump on at least two occasions after the alleged assault, The Guardian said.
Dorris said she thought about coming forward in 2016 when other women were accusing Trump of similar behavior, but she ultimately decided against it because she thought it would harm her family, the report said.
Dorris said that she first met Trump at his office in Trump Tower with her then-boyfriend before they went to the Open.
"He came on very strong right away," Dorris said. "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."
