The Washington Post via Getty Images
E. Jean Carroll at her home in Warwick, NY.
- Two friends of author E. Jean Carroll have publicly confirmed to The New York Times that she told them about the alleged assault by Donald Trump in the mid-90s.
- Journalist Lisa Birnbach told the Times she advised Carroll to go to police. News anchor Carol Martin said she advised her friend to stay silent because of Trump's wealth and power.
- Carroll claimed in a book extract published last week that she was attacked by Trump in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.
- Trump has denied the accusations, and said that Carroll is "not my type."
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Two women have gone on the record to confirm that E. Jean Carroll told them that she had been sexually assaulted by Donald Trump in the mid-90s, around the time she says the attack took place.
Speaking on "The Daily," a podcast by The New York Times, Carroll recounted her tale alongside her two friends: Carol Martin and Lisa Birnbach, who were both also New York journalists at the time.
Carroll claimed that Trump attacked her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in an article published last week by New York Magazine. Trump, now president of the United States, has denied the attack.
She said that she bumped into Trump whilst shopping, and he jokingly asked her to model lingerie for him.
In a dressing room, she claims Trump attempted to kiss her, pinned her against the wall, and assaulted her, and she managed to escape after struggling against him.
According to Carroll, she called Birnbach not long after running away. In the podcast Birnbach, who at points spoke directly to Carroll, said:
"I remember her saying repeatedly 'he pulled down my tights.'
"Which got me to think that was as far as it went. Honestly, you did say, 'he put his penis in me.'
"And I said 'What? He raped you?'
"And you said 'he pulled down my tights, he …'
"It was horrible, we thought, and I said, 'let's go to the police. Come to my house.'"
According to Birnbach, Carroll told her: "It was 15 minutes of my life. It's over. Don't tell anybody. I just had to tell you."
Carroll said that one to three days later she called Martin, who at the time was a news anchor on WCBS-TV in New York.
Martin said she told her friend to stay silent because of Trump's wealth and power.
"I said, don't tell anybody. I wouldn't tell anybody this," Martin said on the podcast.
Ultimately, Carroll said she decided to stay silent for decades because she blamed herself for the incident.
She wrote that the accusations against former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and the Me Too movement led her to speak out.
On Thursday, the White House did not immediately respond to a request from Business Insider to comment on Birnbach's and Martin's accounts.
Trump has strenuously denied Carroll's accusations, claiming she was "totally lying" about the incident.
"I'll say it with great respect: Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" Trump told The Hill.
Carroll, 75, describes the alleged assault in her book, excerpts of which appeared in New York Magazine.
New York Magazine said it corroborated the account with two unnamed women, descriptions for whom match Birnbach and Martin.
She is one of 17 women to come forward with allegations of sexual assault or inappropriate sexual behaviour against Trump. The president has denied all the accusations against him.