Woman Who Accused Trump of Rape Says Encounter 'Was a Fight'

The journalist who accused President Trump of raping her two decades ago said the encounter was against her will and that it "was a fight."

E. Jean Carroll is the author of a long-running advice column in Elle magazine and is a prominent journalist. She was on the cover of New York magazine with and penned an essay that details a run-in she says she had with Trump, then a real estate mogul, in late 1995 or early 1996.

The headline on the cover of the magazine reads, “This Is What I Was Wearing 23 Years Ago When Donald Trump Attacked Me in a Bergdorf Goodman Dressing Room.”  

Carroll appeared on CNN and MSNBC Monday to talk about her allegations.

“It was a fight. I want women to know that I did not stand there. I did not freeze. I was not paralyzed, which is a reaction that I could have had, because it's so shocking. No, I fought,” she said on CNN. 

“This was against my will. It hurts. I use the word ‘fight’ because that was what I was doing the whole time,” she later said on MSNBC.

Bergdorf's is a luxury Manhattan department story across Fifth Avenue from Trump Tower. She says the assault took place when they reached the dressing rooms. She claims Trump pushed her against a wall and pulled down her tights, “forcing his fingers around my private area, thrust[ing] his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.”

Trump is vehemently denying Carroll's claim.

“I have no idea who this woman is,” the president said over the weekend. “It's a false accusation and it's a disgrace.” 

Despite Trump's claim he doesn't know Carroll, a 1987 photo shows Trump with then-wife Ivana, apparently talking with Carroll and her then-husband.

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