Transcription
He's done so many things, but there's this long list of women that nobody's talking about. I don't know how many women it would take to come forward. I mean, it shouldn't take this many women.
Amy Dorris is the latest woman to accuse President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct. Since she spoke out last month, she's been hiding out at her friends'. This is her first time back home.
What have the last few weeks been like for you?
They've been kind of a roller coaster. It's nice to be in my house right now, but it's it's strange. And there's like flags across the street.
Yes, you've got a lot of Trump signs all around this, it's unnerving.
Doris is one of 26 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, ranging from groping to kissing to rape. Vice News spoke with several of these women.
I gotta use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her, you know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. That recording told me that this is something he does. I don't either way. And when you're a star, they let you do it. Because you're a star, they don't care. We do care. You can do anything, whatever you want, grab them by the—that's crazy. He's just totally admitted it, of what he did to me all those years ago.
I moved in her like a—people were shocked, but didn't surprise my husband or me at all. And we were sort of like, okay, I'm glad that the world can see what he's like. It was sort of like redemption to hear it. It did amaze me that this had been exposed. It also amazed me that Trump floated to the surface and went on without any sort of retribution for his behavior. He's admitted it on tape that he does these things. Like, what more do you need?
Doris met Trump in 1997 when she was visiting New York on vacation.
I was 24. I was dating this guy, Jason Binn. He asked me to go with him to New York, have a long weekend, and we went to see Donald Trump. And we all went to the US Open together. We went up to the VIP booth. Then I went and sat with the ladies for a little while, watching the match. Got up to go to the bathroom, and when I came out of the bathroom, Donald was standing there, and he like put his hands on my arms.
Was he talking to you? Was he saying anything?
He would say stuff like, "You, you belong with me," and then he like leaned in for like a kiss, and I kind of pushed him away. And then he kind of came in stronger and started like holding my arms where I couldn't move. Um, I used all my strength to try to get away from him. The more I pushed, the tighter his grip got. I felt stuck, you know, I felt trapped. And that's when he like forced the kiss and put his tongue in my mouth and like forced everything on me. And that's when I like pushed his tongue out with my teeth and probably hurt his tongue.
What were you saying to him?
No, I was like, "No, no, no," and just no. Didn't mean no for him, so it just—he just forced himself on me. I've never had any other man do that to me.
Doris said she confided in several individuals about the incident at the time, a number of whom, including her mother and close friends, corroborated her story with us. Trump's lawyers responded to Doris's claims by saying that Trump had never harassed, abused, or behaved improperly towards Doris, and that if her version of events were true, there would have been witnesses.
Do you think that it was a concern of his that it was in a public space? Or—
I don't think it was, because it was his public space, you know? It was his box. The people that were there were invited by him. I don't think it was a concern to him at all.
The stories these women tell are strikingly similar. The alleged unwanted kissing or groping would occur seemingly out of the blue and often in public places, some even in the exact same locations.
This person thinks it's that I am just his property, like almost like—like he owns the US Open.
I hear—"Who's this? We don't know this one. Oh, look at these legs." I kind of looked around thinking, is he talking about me?
I was on an airplane, and sitting next to me was kind of a blondish, big man, and he introduced himself as Donald Trump.
One day when I was at work, it was probably maybe 8:45 in the morning, I saw Trump um, outside at the elevator bank, and I got up and introduced myself.
So I was sitting on a couch in the China Club. It was packed, and he was sitting to this side of me, and then all of a sudden I just feel this hand like a—like a—like a pinch like on my girl parts. He just uh, came over, put his arm around me, and then he slipped his hand and went to the side of my breast, and then he held my breast.
He took my hand and we shook, and he did give me sort of the—the double cheek kiss, and then he would pull me back in and do it again, and he would kept kissing me in my cheeks, and I thought, well, this is weird. And then, yeah, finally he pulled me in and kissed me on my lips. He leaned into me and he was trying to kiss me and trying to—to put his tongue up my—in my mouth. He was dominating me.
I never actually met Donald Trump. He never introduced himself to me. I was never introduced to him. One of the things that was so shocking about it was the fact that literally other than, "How do you do? My name is Jessica," there was no conversation. As I moved and looked over my shoulder, that's when I saw the eyebrows because he had these crazy bushy eyebrows.
I went home that night and told my boyfriend and just cried. We talked about it and just—there was really no recourse that we saw. Never breathed the word of what had happened to anybody, shuffled it away in my memory as something that I was not going to forget, and I just kind of figured, well, I guess he figures he can do what he wants because he's Donald Trump.
The Access Hollywood tape surfaced just days before the 2016 election, but it wasn't Trump's comments that made these women speak up; it was his flat-out denial.
I believe it was the second debate. He was asked, "Did you ever molest a woman? Have you ever done those things?" "Have respect for me and I will tell you no, I have not." I was like, "No, like this—he's lying, like he always does." I found myself standing in front of my TV yelling at the TV, and I thought, I know what I will do. I'm going to write a letter to the editor.
"These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false."
Once women started speaking out, the backlash was immediate.
A lot of people have accused you of speaking up for attention.
There was no—um—there was no—there's no good attention that comes from speaking about something like sexual assault for anyone. That I had no idea what the aftermath would be like. I had no idea. I have a lot of family members or Trump supporters, and they just thought that I was lying and that I got paid. There were comments about my looks. "You're a liar," someone wrote, "You should put a gun to your head, do this country a favor." You know, there was everything from like, "I don't even like Trump, but you're pathetic," to, "Oh my god, big deal, get a grip, he grabbed your breast, get over it." "We know where you live, we're gonna find you. You and your family are not safe." It was a living nightmare.
Doris also watched the debate, but she didn't come forward at the time.
Why is it that you didn't choose to speak up earlier?
Um, well, when everyone was speaking up, I got really frustrated because I was like, I know they're telling the truth because it happened to me. But my girls were eight, and my kids got older, and you know, I talked to—I talked to my therapist about it. I really, really went into the, you know, what could happen and how can we prepare for it. I finally came to a place in my life that it was time for me to come out.
Trump's legal team have said that the fact that you're speaking up now, so close to the 2020 election, suggests that this could be politically motivated. Is it in any way politically motivated?
No. You know, it has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with me and my family. I've volunteered on campaigns—both those campaigns were Republican, by the way. I worked on Jeb Bush's campaign. If he wasn't running again, I think I'd still come out.
Neither Trump's campaign nor the White House responded to requests for comment. Trump has continually denied all allegations.
I feel so powerful, I'll walk into that order, I'll walk in there, I'll kiss everyone in that audience, I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women, and um, everybody, I'll just give you a big fat kiss.
Even as his behavior towards women again comes under scrutiny, Trump is making a desperate bid to get women to show up for him next week.
So can I ask you to do me a favor? Suburban women, will you please like me?
You're the 26th woman to come forward, and you know some of these accusations came out before the 2016 election. He still got into power. I mean, do you really think that you speaking up can make any difference at all?
No, this is not gonna move the needle on his election whatsoever.
Why do you think it doesn't make a difference? Do you think people don't care?
I don't know, honestly. I mean, I don't know how many women it would take to come forward. I don't know. What more do we need? Hundreds? I mean, would that matter? I am sure that there are stories out there, and I'm also sure there's a lot of people that just don't want to get involved. But I understand why they don't. The fear of being ridiculed, the fear of not being believed, or I brought it on myself, I wore a skirt. Nobody would know about this probably if he had not run for president. It's only of importance to most people because he was trying to get the most important job in the world.
What is it that you would say to him if he was sat here instead of me? If you can grab anything you want without there being any boundary and also consequence, when does it stop? You