By Sarah Krichel
A former Ryerson student has accused notorious Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexually attacking her in December 2005.
Natasha Stoynoff, who studied journalism at Ryerson and went on to work for People magazine, posted a recount of the incident on People Politics about her experience. “Within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat,” she wrote.
According to the post, Trump showed Stoynoff to a room that “she just had to see.” Before she knew it, he slammed the door shut and attacked her.
Stoynoff wrote that she was set to do an interview at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida with him and his wife, Melania Trump, for a first-wedding-anniversary feature story. She had been covering Trump for years on The Apprentice and was an attendee at his wedding, according to the post.
Trump recently responded at his rally in Florida, denying allegations from the Canadian journalist. He made additional remarks implying that her physical appearance indicated he would not have sexually assaulted her at the time.
“You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words,” Trump said to his supporters at the rally. “You tell me what you think—I don’t think so. I don’t think so.”
Why didn’t the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the “incident” in her story. Because it did not happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016
The post said that Stoynoff was thankful when Trump’s longtime butler had burst into the room a minute later when she was trying to unpin herself.
According to the post, after the occurrence Trump said, “You know we’re going to have an affair, don’t you?”
The next day, Stoynoff said she experienced a similar fright when Trump accommodated her for an appointment with a masseuse that she could not previously book. Stoynoff said when she got there, her designated therapist told her Trump had been there waiting for her for 15 minutes.
“He’s going to show up and this guy’s going to let him in with me half-naked on a table,” Stoynoff wrote. She cut the session short.
“Like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. I minimized it (“It’s not like he raped me…”); I doubted my recollection and my reaction. I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me,” she wrote.
The alleged event took place not long after the 2005 “locker room” conversation, which was recently leaked, where Trump bragged to Billy Bush about groping women. “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet … I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he said.
Natasha/I discussed what to do re Trump. We both thought he would try to destroy her if she charged him. #natashastoynoff
— Paul McLaughlin (@paulmcl) October 14, 2016
In 2005, Natasha Stoynoff phoned me, distraught, crying. Said Trump assaulted her. She is telling truth. #natashastoynoff
— Paul McLaughlin (@paulmcl) October 13, 2016
Paul McLaughlin, a Ryerson journalism professor who taught Stoynoff when she attended Ryerson, recently told CBC that the former student contacted him crying back in 2005 after the alleged event.
Stoynoff never pursued charges against Trump, because of the typical difficulties that surround sexual assault trials.
“It was going to be a he-said she-said, it was her ultimate decision, but I felt certain that he was going to come at her with guns-a-blazing,” McLaughlin said in the interview.
NYMAG released a list of all the allegations made against Trump, revealing 20 women in total who have accused Trump of kissing them without consent, fondling their breasts, reaching under their skirts and groping them. Another claimed that Trump allegedly told a group of then-14-year-olds that he would date them in a couple of years.
Stoynoff has also worked for the Toronto Star, TIME Magazine and is a New York Times best-selling author.
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