Trump denies raping author E Jean Carroll and says 'she's not my type'

Donald Trump has denied raping the author E Jean Carroll, the latest woman to accuse him of sexual assault, partly on the basis that “she’s not my type”.

Carroll appeared on CNN on Monday to provide further details of the alleged mid-1990s incident in which she claims Mr Trump cornered her in a dressing room, forced her up against a wall and raped her.

“He pulled down my tights, and it was a fight,” she told the broadcaster. “I fought. It was over very quickly, and it was against my will, 100 per cent. I fought and then I ran away.”

Speaking to American publication The Hill in the Oval Office, the US president said Carroll was “totally lying”. He added: “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?

“I don’t know anything about her,” he said, referring to Carroll. In previous interviews he has suggested he never met the author, until it emerged the pair have been pictured together. “I know nothing about this woman. I know nothing about her. She is – it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that.”

Carroll’s allegation against Mr Trump is included in her upcoming book about the “hideous men” the Elle magazine columnist says she has encountered throughout her life. She says what started as a friendly encounter with the future president at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan, in 1995 or 1996, ended with him entering her “halfway – or completely, I’m not certain … it turns into a colossal struggle”.

Carroll told CNN’s Anderson Cooper later on Monday that she was glad Mr Trump does not consider her his type. “I love that,” she said. “I’m so glad I am not his type.”

Carroll said there were no attendants in the dressing room area at the time of the alleged assault and she did not file a report with the New York Police Department.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, more than a dozen women accused Mr Trump of sexual misconduct in earlier years. Mr Trump has denied the allegations and said the women are lying.

It is also not the first time the president has used the “not my type” line to disparage an accuser.

In 2016, after a former magazine writer accused Mr Trump of assaulting her in 2005, he responded: “She lies! Look at her, I don’t think so.”

And when another woman claimed Mr Trump groped her on a plane in the early 1980s, he said: “Believe me – she would not be my first choice.”

The president has also attempted to discredit Carroll by suggesting she – or the outlet that first published the key extract of her book – might be politically motivated.

“If anyone has information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms Carroll or New York Magazine, please notify us as soon as possible,” he said.

Carroll told CNN: “With all the 16 women who have come forward, it’s the same – he denies it, he turns it around, he attacks, and he threatens. Then everybody forgets it, and then the next woman comes along. And I am sick of it. We have to change this culture of sexual violence.”