Thirty-one years after Stacey Williams said she was groped by Donald Trump while Jeffrey Epstein looked on, the 56-year-old writer, consultant and former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model went public this week with her allegation.
Williams, 56, told her story during a “Survivors for Kamala” Zoom call Monday evening that was open to the public and which organizers said hundreds of people joined. It featured a range of women discussing their experiences of sexual violence and included actor Ashley Judd and Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement.
Williams, a registered Democrat who attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention and has been involved in liberal causes in the past, said on the Zoom call that her decision to come forward was partly linked to the elections.
“I thought it was time to share this and I’m ready to win this election,” Williams said on the Zoom call. “The idea of this monster being back in the White House is my worst nightmare. »
In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Williams said his decision to come forward was not made in conjunction with the Democratic Party. When asked if she had any communications with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, she replied, “None at all.”
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt flatly denied Williams’ allegations in a statement. “These accusations, made by a former Barack Obama campaigner and announced in a call to the Harris campaign two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false,” the statement read in part.
NBC News spoke with seven people who said they discussed the allegations with Williams between 2006 and 2022. All said they found Williams and her claims credible and consistent. Her allegation was first published in The Guardian and first broadcast by CNN.
Williams appears to be the first person to publicly allege sexual misconduct by Trump in which Epstein played a role. None of the dozens of women in Epstein’s orbit that NBC News has interviewed over the past seven years have accused Trump of misconduct involving Epstein.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a charge of recruiting a minor for prostitution and served a prison sentence in Florida. He committed suicide in 2019 in a federal prison in Manhattan while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors.
“I feel very comfortable and ready to say it,” Williams told NBC News, “and then I can deal with the backlash.”
A visit to Trump Tower
Williams said she first met Epstein at a dinner in 1992 and they began spending time together while they were both in town. She said Epstein was not her boyfriend and the relationship was never sexual.
She and Epstein attended a Christmas party that year at the Plaza Hotel – which Trump owned at the time. She recalled seeing Trump at the party and said it was clear the two men were friends.
Later, “in the late winter, early spring” of 1993, Williams recalled, she was walking with Epstein near Fifth Avenue when he suggested visiting Trump at Trump Tower. It was a sunny day, she recalled, and she wasn’t wearing a coat, she told NBC News.
She said on the Zoom call: “We went to Trump Tower and went up the elevator, and moments later Trump was greeting us. »
Moments after meeting him, Trump “pulled me towards him and started groping me. He put his hands on my breasts and my waist, my butt and I froze,” Williams said on the Zoom call, her voice appearing to crack as she described being touched. “And I froze because I was so deeply confused about what was happening because the hands were moving all over me.”
Former President Donald Trump faces federal election interference charges related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Here’s what you need to know.
Williams said that while Trump groped her, the two men spoke calmly to each other.
“These two men were smiling at each other and carrying on their conversation,” she said.
Williams told NBC News that the two men talked about her “like an object.” She said they focused on her appearance and appearances in Sports Illustrated in a conversation she called “disgusting.” She said the incident lasted five to 10 minutes and occurred in a reception area outside Trump’s office.
Williams said that after the encounter, when she and Epstein were back on the street, Epstein became enraged and began “reprimanding” her with questions. “Why did you let him do that?” he asked, according to Williams. The fact that Epstein blamed her confused her, Williams said.
“He made me feel so disgusting and, I remember, at that moment, so confused,” Williams recalled. “I felt so humiliated, so sick to my stomach and so upset.”
She added: “I was someone who really prided myself on being one of the tough models who was a problem because I was fighting against predators in the industry. »
“And then the next feeling, probably the next one, that I remember was just shame and embarrassment,” she said. “I had let something happen that I could have stopped.”
Williams and Epstein never discussed the incident again, she said. Williams was deeply troubled and cut off contact with Epstein shortly afterward. She said she did not know Epstein had abused young women and broken the law until the media reported on him.
A few days after the incident, a postcard addressed to her arrived at her modeling agency, Williams recalled. It had Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on the front and what appeared to be a handwritten message from him on the back. Williams said she still has the postcard and has shared photographs with NBC News.
“Stacey, your home away from home, Love Donald” was written on the back, in handwriting that appears similar to Trump’s. The postcard is neither postmarked nor dated.
“I felt a lot of shame and blamed myself for it. And that made me not want to talk about it,” Williams said.
She added that she never considered reporting the allegations to police. She said she never met Trump again.
NBC News spoke to seven people who said Williams had already told them about the alleged meeting with Trump, most of whom requested anonymity. Six of them were long-time friends and acquaintances. The first was told in 2006, another was told before Trump was a presidential candidate, and the most recent took place in 2022.
Ally Gutwillinger, a friend, said Williams told her the week after Trump announced his 2015 presidential campaign that she had been groped by Trump in Epstein’s presence.
“I remember it clearly. I was at her house,” Gutwillinger told NBC News. “I saw the Mar-a-Lago postcard sitting there. And she told me to return it. And he was like, “Stacey, you’re home away from home.” I love Donald.’
Williams’ claim that Epstein introduced her to Trump echoes descriptions of Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, introducing women to individuals who sexually abused them in one way or another. another one.
Deciding to speak out
Two years ago, Williams was interviewed for a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition feature, “Beyond the Gaze.” At one point, she said on camera that she was groped by a former president in front of Epstein, but she did not name Trump. A few weeks ago, she learned that the film would be screened at the Woodstock Film Festival earlier this month.
Williams told NBC News that she thought it was important to provide more context about what happened, given that the film’s premiere was a few weeks after the election.
Former President Donald Trump turned a campaign event in Pennsylvania into a concert Monday night after he was twice interrupted by medical emergencies in the audience.
“If I want this to get out there, I have to tell my story and I feel ready,” she said.
Through a friend, she was connected to the “Survivors for Kamala” appeal, a coalition of groups and individuals aligned in support of Harris.
Trump has faced allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years from numerous women, including former columnist E. Jean Carroll. Last year, a New York jury found Trump responsible for Carroll’s sexual abuse at a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, but not responsible for her alleged rape. He continued to deny all allegations of sexual misconduct.
The latest allegation against Trump comes less than two weeks before Election Day and as early voting has already begun in several states.
In a 2005 video that became known as the “Access Hollywood” tape after it was made public in 2016, released just weeks before that year’s election, Trump can be heard saying, “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women – I’m just starting to kiss.” them, it’s like a magnet. Kiss yourself. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he said, including “grabbing them by the f—-.”
Williams said she gradually became more comfortable telling her story over time.
“He hurt me,” Williams told NBC News. “Sexual assault is harmful. It harms people.
This article was first published on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:
