A Former Model Accuses Trump of Sexual Assault at the 1997 US Open

“I was in his grip, and I couldn’t get out of it.”

Yuri Gripas/ZUMA

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

A former model has accused President Trump of forcibly kissing and groping her while attending the 1997 US Open in Queens, New York. The alleged incident is the latest in at least 24 credible sexual assault allegations against Trump, ranging from similar accusations of unwanted touching and kissing to rape.

Amy Dorris, who was 24 at the time, came forward to the Guardian with her account. She alleges that Trump assaulted her “all over her body” outside the bathroom to the tournament’s VIP box. Several people have corroborated Dorris’s account, according to the Guardian, including a friend she immediately confided to after the alleged incident took place and her therapist. Trump, through his lawyers, denied the allegation, in the “strongest possible terms.”

Dorris recalled to the Guardian:

“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.

“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.”

Doris said that she had kept silent out about the alleged assault out of concern for her family but chose to speak out now that her two twin daughters are older. 

The allegation comes as the Justice Department, in a stunning and rare intervention earlier this month, moved to represent the president in his defense against the writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him. Last November, Carroll filed the suit after Trump denied her claims that he had raped her inside the dressing rooms of Bergdorf Goodman more than twenty years ago, and claimed that he had never met Carroll. 

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate