A former model has accused Donald Trump of groping and sexually touching her when they first interacted in 1993. Stacey Williams alleged that the incident was part of a “twisted game” involving Trump and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein, who introduced her to the former president.
Ms Williams, who began her modelling career in the 1990s, met Trump at a Christmas party in 1992 through Epstein, whom she described as a close friend of Trump. “It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,” she told The Guardian.
Epstein was later convicted with multiple allegations of sex trafficking and abuse of minors. He killed himself in prison in 2019.
The alleged groping occurred months later when Jeffrey Epstein suggested they visit Trump at his Manhattan residence. Upon arrival, Ms Williams claims Trump greeted her before pulling her closer and putting his hands all over her “breasts”, as well as her waist and buttocks. She claims to have frozen up and recalls being “confused” about what was happening. She remembers having seen the two men secretly smiling at each other after the incident.
Following the incident, Ms Williams and Epstein left Trump Tower, where she claims Epstein was “raging” at her. “Jeffrey and I left and he didn’t look at me or speak to me, and I felt this seething rage around me,” she recounted. Epstein reportedly asked her, “Why did you let him do that?” Ms Williams described feeling “disgusting” and “confused” after the encounter.
“I felt shame and disgust and as we went our separate ways, I felt this sensation of revisiting it, while the hands were all over me. And I had this horrible pit in my stomach that it was somehow orchestrated. I felt like a piece of meat,” she said.
Stacey Williams, now 56 and living in Pennsylvania, had previously shared snippets of her experience on social media but disclosed further details during a Zoom call organised by ‘Survivors for Kamala’, a group supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The call featured notable speakers, including actress Ashley Judd and legal scholar Anita Hill.
Donald Trump’s campaign responded to Ms Williams’ allegations through press secretary Karoline Leavitt, calling the accusations “unequivocally false” and suggesting they were politically motivated. “It’s obvious this fake story was contrived by the Harris campaign,” she claimed.
Ms Williams, in an interview with The Guardian, shared a postcard from Trump sent to her agent later in 1993. It had an aerial view of Mar-a-Lago with the message, “Stacey – Your home away from home. Love Donald.”
The accusations against Trump add to a growing list of women who have alleged sexual misconduct by the former president, including instances of unwanted touching and harassment. A jury previously found Trump liable for sexual abuse in a case involving columnist E. Jean Carroll, awarding her $5 million.
Ms Williams explained, “I watched what has happened to women who come out, and it is so horrifying and abusive.”
Ms Williams confided in friends about the incident years ago. One of her friends recalled that she had shared the details of the groping in 2005 or 2006. “What I recall is that it was groping … what we would call feeling someone up,” the friend said.
Another friend recalled a conversation in 2015, shortly after Trump announced his presidential candidacy, where Ms Williams said, “He’s vile, he groped me in Trump Tower.”
