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- Donald Trump hosted a slew of celebrities in his VIP box at the US Open the day after he allegedly assaulted then-model Amy Dorris in his VIP box in 1997.
- Dorris told The Guardian that Trump approached her outside of the private bathroom in his box on September 5, 1997, forcibly kissed her, groped her, and gripped her tightly against her will.
- The Guardian published photos of Dorris posing with musicians Sean Combs and Lenny Kravitz, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and illusionist David Blaine at Trump Tower and at the US Open.
- Other photos show Trump with Combs and his ex-wife Ivana Trump in his VIP box on September 6 when Dorris was also in attendance.
- Lawyers for the president denied Dorris’ allegations that he sexually assaulted her. Dorris is the 26th woman to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct.
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Donald Trump hosted a slew of celebrities in his VIP box at the US Open on September 6, 1997 alongside then-24-year-old model Amy Dorris, who says Trump sexually assaulted her in his VIP box the day prior.
Trump was photographed with musician Sean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy, his ex-wife Ivana Trump, and her then-boyfriend Roffredo Gaetani in his private box overlooking the courts. Dorris and her boyfriend at the time, magazine publisher Jason Binn, posed for photos with Combs and musician Lenny Kravitz at Trump’s apartment in Trump Tower before they attended the tennis tournament that day.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and illusionist David Blaine also joined the group in Trump’s VIP box on September 6. Dorris provided The Guardian with a photo of herself posing with DiCaprio, Blaine, and Binn at the Open and with Trump, Kravitz, Combs, and Binn at Trump Tower.
In an interview with The Guardian published on Thursday, Dorris said Trump approached her outside of the private bathroom in his box on September 5, 1997 and forcibly kissed her, groped her all over her body, and gripped her tightly against her will.
“He just shoved his tongue down my throat and I was pushing him off,” Dorris told The Guardian, adding that she told Trump to “please stop.” “And then that’s when his grip became tighter and his hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything … I was in his grip, and I couldn’t get out of it.”
Dorris and Binn spent two days with Trump at the 1997 US Open — on September 5 and 6 — and attended a memorial service for Gianni Versace with Trump on September 8, according to The Guardian.
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A friend of Dorris' and Dorris' mother, both of whom the then-model says she told about the alleged assault soon after it happened, both corroborated Dorris' allegations to The Guardian. A therapist and other friends Dorris spoke with about the incident also corroborated her account.
Dorris says she told Binn at the time, "[Trump's] all over me. I can't deal with this. You have to do something," but doesn't recall whether she told him specifics about the alleged assault.
Lawyers for the president strongly denied Dorris' allegations and claimed her decision to continue spending time with Trump after the alleged assault undermined the credibility of her claim. Binn did not speak with The Guardian but reportedly told Trump's lawyers he didn't recall the incident.
Dorris lived in Boca Raton, Florida at the time and Binn, who was a close friend of Trump's, brought her to New York for a long weekend. The now-48-year-old mother of two says she "felt pressured" to brush off the assault.
"I was there from Florida and I was with Jason. I had no money, nowhere to go. We were going from event to event and it was overwhelming," Dorris told The Guardian. "People spend years around people who have abused them, that's what happens when something traumatic happens, you freeze."
Twenty-five other women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct since the 1970s. Sixteen women have accused him of forcible kissing or groping, seven have accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior, and two have accused him of violent sexual assault or rape.
And Dorris isn't the first woman to allege that Trump assaulted her at a US Open tournament. Karena Virginia alleges that Trump approached her at the 1998 US Open, grabbed her arm, and touched her breast before asking, "Don't you know who I am?"