Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll recounted her alleged sexual assault at President Donald Trump’s hands on CNN Monday, saying that she wants “women to know” that she “fought” and that it was “100 percent” against her will.
“He pulled down my tights. And it was a fight,” she told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “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. And it was over very quickly. It was against my will — 100 percent.”
E. Jean Carroll describes her allegation of sexual assault against President Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/tUcUzEHwVC
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) June 24, 2019
When Camerota later asked Carroll if she thought more women should speak out about their assaults, the writer was candid.
“See, now it’s a ball of confusion,” Carroll said, throwing up her hands. “Friday, yes, women should stand up and change the culture by speaking out. Now — now it’s tough. It’s tough,” she added after referencing an onslaught of reaction online, most of which she said she had avoided reading.
“Let’s say a woman who lives in Atlanta or Texas,” she continued. “She wants to tell the police about her husband. But that would have reverberations for her children, children her children go to school with, her church, her friends. Maybe you and I can come up with a plan to help women speak out without losing everything.”
E. Jean Carroll speaks candidly about women reporting their sexual assaults pic.twitter.com/XjXZEUzNEc
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) June 24, 2019
Carroll recounted the alleged assault in an excerpt of her upcoming book published in New York magazine on Friday. She says that he assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. Trump denies the accusations and even knowing Carroll, though the article includes a picture of the two of them together.
According to a Vox count, Carroll is at least the 22nd woman to publicly accuse Trump of sexual assault or harassment.
