President Donald Trump strongly denounced an allegation of sexual assault from author E. Jean Carroll on Friday, saying that he never met the woman in his life.
“I’ve never met this person in my life,” Trump said in a statement sent to reporters. “She is trying to sell a new book — that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section.”
Carroll published an excerpt of her story in New York Magazine claiming that Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1995. Bergdorf Goodman confirmed that they had no surveillance video of the alleged incident.
Carroll is now 75, is an advice columnist for Ell, and wrote magazine features for Playboy and Esquire.
Trump noted that there was no pictures, no surveillance, no video, no reports, and no sales representatives who could prove the assault.
“It’s just as bad for people to believe it, particularly when there is zero evidence,” Trump said. “Worse still for a dying publication to try to prop itself up by peddling fake news—it’s an epidemic.”
Trump also denounced false rape accusations for diminishing the seriousness of real assault cases.
“If anyone has information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms. Carroll or New York Magazine, please notify us as soon as possible,” Trump wrote. “The world should know what’s really going on. It is a disgrace and people should pay dearly for such false accusations.”