New accuser says Trump reached under her skirt, touched her vagina at crowded club

Another woman has come forward with an account of being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump in a manner identical to how he described his own approach to women in a recorded conversation with Billy Bush. Kristin Anderson told the Washington Post that she was in deep conversation with friends at a club in the early ’90s when Trump, who was seated next to her on a couch, “slid his fingers up her miniskirt, moved up her inner thigh, and touched her vagina through her underwear.”

She said the two hadn’t been flirting or conversing — she didn’t even realize it was Trump until she fled the couch, turned around and recognized him.

“It wasn’t a sexual come-on. I don’t know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it, and nothing would happen,” Anderson said. “There was zero conversation. We didn’t even really look at each other. It was very random, very nonchalant on his part.”

Anderson’s account adds to the growing number of women who describe being sexually violated by the Republican nominee. Of particular note in her description is how clearly it reflects the behavior of sexual abusers — that they are less motivated by sexual arousal than by asserting power, dominance, and control to make someone uncomfortable and afraid.

Anderson said that she immediately told her companions about the assault, and has also told a number of others in the decades since, which was corroborated by the newspaper. The Post reported that it initially reached out to Anderson after hearing the story through someone else, and she only agreed to be interviewed after nearly a dozen women came forth with similar accounts of Trump’s behavior on Wednesday.

“It’s a sexual assault issue, and it’s something that I’ve kept quiet on my own,” Anderson said. “And I’ve always kept quiet. And why should I keep quiet? Actually, all of the women should speak up, and if you’re touched inappropriately, tell somebody and speak up about it. Actually go to the authorities and press some charges. It’s not okay.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks responded in a statement saying, “Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous.”

[Washington Post | Photo: Getty]