A journalist wept as she told a jury how she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Donald Trump while on assignment to cover the former president’s first wedding anniversary at Mar-a-Lago in 2005.
Natasha Stoynoff took the witness stand at Mr Trump’s civil rape and defamation trial on Wednesday to support writer E Jean Carroll, who alleges she was raped by Mr Trump at department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996.
The former People writer told the jury that Mr Trump asked to show her a room at his Palm Beach club in between conducting interviews for the magazine with him and his wife Melania, who was pregnant with their son Barron at the time.
“I hear the door shut behind me, by the time I turn around he has his hands on my shoulder, pushing me up against the wall and he starts kissing me,” she said.
Ms Stoynoff, a freelance journalist, author and scriptwriter who now lives in Canada, said that she was “flustered and in shock” as she tried to push Mr Trump away from her.
The alleged encounter lasted a few minutes, and only ended when a Mar-a-Lago butler entered the room, she said.
“I gave (the butler) a ‘get me out of here look’,” Ms Stoynoff said.
As they were walking back to meet Melania, Ms Stoynoff testified that Mr Trump told her: “You know we’re going to have an affair. Don’t forget what (his second wife Marla Maples) said, ‘best sex I ever had’.”
Ms Stoynoff became emotional as she told the court she was in a state of shock and unable to speak. “I choked up, I couldn’t answer him,” she said.
When they met up with Melania, Mr Trump “doted” on his wife, she added.
Ms Stoynoff said she went into “auto pilot” and tried to pretend the incident never happened while finishing the interviews.
She said she told her former journalism professor and newsroom supervisor at People at the time, but didn’t mention it to anyone more senior as she hadn’t wanted to cause trouble for the magazine.
In October 2016, Ms Stoynoff went public about the alleged incident for the first time in an article for People magazine.
She said she had been “horrified” by the Access Hollywood tape in which Mr Trump had been caught on a hot mic bragging about sexually assaulting women. The tape, recorded in 2005, had emerged two weeks earlier, shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
The jury were shown the two minute clip, in which Mr Trump states he “automatically” starts kissing women he’s attracted to. “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he says in the footage.
Days later, Mr Trump appeared at a presidential debate with Hillary Clinton where he denied ever forcibly kissing a woman without their consent after a direct question from moderator Anderson Cooper.
Ms Stoynof told the court she became “sick to her stomach” watching his denials, and spoke to her editors at People about publishing her firsthand account.
“I actually thought to myself, ‘oh he does this to a lot of women’, it’s not just me, it’s not something I did.
“The horrible part was I worried that because I did not say anything that at the time other women were hurt by him. So I had regret there.
“I thought to myself, ‘you liar’. I just felt really upset that he was lying to the American people.”
Mr Carroll’s attorneys then played a clip from a Trump campaign rally in October 2016 which he denied the claim, and disparaged Ms Stoynoff.
Asked by Ms Carroll’s attorney Mike Ferrara what she understood him to mean, Ms Stoynoff replied: “I’m assuming he means that I’m unattractive.”
Ms Stoynoff said she had been assigned to the “Trump beat” in 2003, and interviewed The Apprentice host about 10 times prior to the Mar-a-Lago encounter. He had asked her out to dinner before, but never forced himself on her before, she said.
The jury was then played portions of Mr Trump’s deposition in which he repeated that Ms Carroll had “made up” allegations that he had raped her in a dressing room at the luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told the court that the defence would not be calling any witnesses.
He confirmed their sole expert witness would no longer be appearing. It was confirmed on Tuesday that Mr Trump would not testify in his own defence.
Ms Carroll’s attorneys are due to finish their case on Thursday afternoon, and the jury will be sent out to deliberate after closing arguments on Monday.
Ms Carroll, 79, is seeking damages for defamation and battery, alleging her reputation was “destroyed” when the former president called her claims a “con job” in a Truth Social post in October 2022.
Mr Trump, 76, has strongly denied the rape took place.
