Accuser back in the news
President Trump on Tuesday lashed out at one of the women who has accused him of sexual assault or misbehavior — calling her a liar after she again detailed her lurid story in the media.
“A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her (for two minutes yet) in the lobby of Trump Tower 12 years ago. Never happened! Who would do this in a public space with live security cameras running,” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets.
He was taking aim at Rachel Crooks, 35, who has accused the president of forcibly kissing her at Trump Tower in 2006, when he was 59 and she was 22.
“Another False Accusation. Why doesn’t @washingtonpost report the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me? One had her home mortgage paid off. Only @FoxNews so reported . . . doesn’t fit the Mainstream Media narrative,” Trump complained in the latest in a string of furious tweets that began Saturday night and continued through Tuesday morning.
What sparked the president’s rage was a lengthy story in Tuesday’s Washington Post that recounted not only Crooks’ accusations but those of the dozen other women who have charged him with sexual misbehavior.
The story said that Trump — in the midst of the #MeToo movement — has escaped any serious consequences despite the cascade of allegations as well as the creepy “Access Hollywood” tape in which he boasted about grabbing women by the genitals and forcibly kissing them.
Crooks said that she met Trump in the lobby of his eponymous building, where she worked as a receptionist for another company, and introduced herself.
“He took hold of my hand and held me in place. He started kissing me on one cheek, then the other cheek. He was talking to me in between kisses, asking where I was from, or if I wanted to be a model. He wouldn’t let go of my hand, and then he went right in and started kissing me on the lips,” Crooks told the paper.
“It felt like a long kiss,” she said. “The whole thing probably lasted two minutes, maybe less.”
E-mails she sent her family at the time alluded to the incident.
“Hey Ma, my day started off rough . . . had a weird incident with Mr. Trump,” she wrote shortly after the alleged encounter.
“I must just appear to be some dumb girl that he can take advantage of . . . ugh!” she wrote her sister that same afternoon.
“Ah yes, the Donald kiss . . . very creepy man, let me tell you!” she messaged another relative a couple days later.
After Trump announced he would run for president, Crooks and some of his other accusers told their stories on TV, in newspapers and other media — but to little apparent effect on the president’s popularity, at least among his poitical base.
“I am not sure I’ve changed one person’s mind,” Crooks told the paper.
Beginning Saturday, Trump unleashed his anger on Twitter, attacking Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Democrats and accusations that his campaign’s colluded with Russia.
He also slammed Oprah Winfrey and his own national security adviser, H.R. McMaster.
The president has been rocked by a series of lurid reports in the past few weeks, including the admission from his lawyer Michael Cohen that Cohen had paid hush money to porn vixen Stormy Daniels and reports that another Trump ally had paid a Playboy Playmate of the Year to clam up about her alleged affair with Trump.