The maid accusing former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault is speaking out for the first time to tell her side of the story. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
The hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her is breaking her silence. Her name, kept from the public until now, is Nafi Diallo. She became emotional during an interview with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts.
"As God is my witness, I'm telling the truth. I want him to go to jail. I want him to know you cannot use your power when you do something like this," Diallo said.
Diallo said a naked Strauss-Kahn attacked her when she entered what she thought was his empty suite at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to clean it.
Diallo said, "I was like, 'I'm so sorry!' I turned my head. He comes to me and grab my breasts. 'No, you don't have to be sorry.' "
Strauss-Kahn is living in a ritzy New York City apartment building while prosecutors consider whether to drop the charges against him over concerns about the maid's credibility.
Now, Diallo is fighting back by going public for the first time and telling her side of the story.
"I said, 'Stop it! Stop it!' But he kept pushing me, pushing me to the hallway...back to the hallway. I was so afraid," Diallo said.
The 32-year-old Diallo said she only found out later that Strauss-Kahn was the powerful head of the International Monetary Fund, and a leading candidate for President of France.
"They say he's going to be the next President of France. And I say, 'Oh my God!' and I was crying. I said, 'They're going to kill me,' " Diallo told Roberts.
Diallo is also is giving her first print interview to Newsweek magazine. She told Paris Bureau Chief Christopher Dickey that after the alleged assault, "I run. I run out of there. I don't turn back. I didn't want to lose my job."
INSIDE EDITION's Paul Boyd spoke with Dickey about the interview.
"Do I believe her? I do believe her, unless somebody gives me a more credible scenario than she's giving and nobody has done that," said Dickey.
The District Attorney's office says Diallo lied on immigration papers when she came to the U.S. from the African nation of Guinea. She's also accused of telling a boyfriend that she wanted to sue Strauss-Kahn for lots of money. Questions about her credibility have threatened to blow up the prosecution's case.
"I think she is really angry that so many heavy guns have been turned on her to discredit her," said Dickey.
She also emphatically denied reports in the New York Post claiming she's a hooker. She choked up talking about it.
"I'm not, and I have never been called that since I was born," Diallo said.
We asked body language expert T.J. Walker for his take on the hotel maid's dramatic TV interview.
"When people are comfortable and relaxed, they tend to move their hands. They become animated. When people are nervous and uncomfortable, that's when they [clasp] or freeze their hands. She doesn't seem to be fidgeting [in the Good Morning America interview]. That works in her favor. She comes across as more believable, more honest, more straightforward," said Walker.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers told INSIDE EDITION the interview is part of a campaign to "inflame public opinion against a defendant in a pending criminal case. The cause of justice here is served only when criminal charges are dropped and this unseemly circus comes to an end."
"I want justice. I want him to go to jail," Diallo said.
The maid's attorney says they plan on filing a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn within days. Meanwhile, Strauss-Kahn vehemently denies her accusations.
