Who is Amy Dorris? Ex-model says Trump forced his tongue down her throat, his hands were all over 'my butt and breasts'
President Donald Trump has had yet another sexual assault allegation laid against him, this time by a former model named Amy Dorris. The model has alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her over two decades ago at the US Open tennis tournament and the attack left her feeling "violated" and "sick." Dorris, who was 24 at the time of the attack, reportedly spent several days with Trump in September 1997 after she was taken to New York for a long weekend by her former boyfriend, Jason Binn. The model, at the time, was living with her friends in Boca Raton, Florida and regularly traveled to Miami for her career and acting work. Her former boyfriend, Binn, founder of multiple luxury fashion and lifestyle magazines, reportedly described Trump as his "best friend" in 1999.
Dorris, who is now 48, described her ordeal in an exclusive interview with the Guardian and alleged that Trump accosted her outside the bathroom in his VIP box at the tournament in New York on September 5, 1997. Dorris said that Trump forced his tongue down her throat, assaulting her all over her body, and held her in such a tight grip that she was unable to escape.
"He just shoved his tongue down my throat and I was pushing him off. 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," she told the outlet. "I was in his grip, and I couldn’t get out of it. I don’t know what you call that when you’re sticking your tongue just down someone’s throat. But I pushed it out with my teeth. I was pushing it. And I think I might have hurt his tongue.”
Trump, at the time of the alleged attack, was 51 and married to his second wife Marla Maples. Dorris also provided the outlet with evidence of her encounters with Trump, including six pictures that showed her with the real estate tycoon over several days in New York. The president, through his lawyers, however, has denied that he ever harassed, abused, or behaved in an improper manner toward Dorris.
Dorris' account was reportedly corroborated by multiple people she confided in about the incident at the time, including her mother, and a friend in New York. Dorris reportedly called both of them immediately after the alleged assault. She also reached out to a therapist. The former model, who is now a mother of twin daughters, had reportedly considered speaking about the incident publicly in 2016 during Trump's presidential run. However, she decided against it, in part because she thought her family might be harmed if she opened her mouth.
"Now I feel like my girls are about to turn 13 years old and I want them to know that you don’t let anybody do anything to you that you don’t want," Dorris said. “And I’d rather be a role model. I want them to see that I didn’t stay quiet, that I stood up to somebody who did something that was unacceptable.”
Dorris said Binn, on September 5, 1997, took her to meet Trump at his office in Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan before the trio went to the US Open together in Queens. "He came on very strong right away,” Dorris said of Trump. “It seemed typical of a certain guy, people who just feel like they’re entitled to do what they want … even though I was there with my boyfriend." Trump's other friends were also present in his private box. Dorris said that Trump allegedly assaulted her when she got up to go to the bathroom, which was behind a partition wall, meters away from where Trump's friends were watching the match.
"I was having some issues with my contact lenses," she said. "I remember going in there to moisten my lens." However, she said when she came out, Trump was waiting outside. "Initially I thought that he was waiting to go to the bathroom, but that wasn’t the case, unfortunately. She alleged that the Republican, after a brief exchange, forced himself on her as she nervously laughed and told him: "No, get away." Dorris allegedly then told Trump, "No, please stop," but added that he "didn't care."
"It doesn’t matter who you are," she said. "Any time anyone says no, no means no. And that just didn’t work out for me. It wasn’t enough. I just kind of was in shock. I felt violated, obviously. But I still wasn’t processing it and just was trying to go back to talking to everyone and having a good time because, I don’t know, I felt pressured to be that way."
The former model said that she then asked her former boyfriend to tell Trump to leave her alone. She does not recall if she told him the full details of the alleged assault.