A former Miss Finland has accused U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump of groping her in 2006 when she was representing the country in the Miss Universe beauty contest.
Ninni Laaksonen told the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper that the Republican presidential nominee had grabbed her behind before she appeared on a television show in New York with other contestants.
“He really grabbed my butt. I don’t think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought: ‘What is happening?’,” Laaksonen was quoted as saying in the newspaper.
“Somebody told me there that Trump liked me because I looked like Melania [Trump’s wife since 2005] when she was younger,” Laaksonen, who was crowned Miss Finland in 2006, said. “It left me disgusted.”
The accusation follows a stream of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Trump from other women in the United States which have put pressure on his campaign as he trails in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Trump has denied all of the accusations, and he’s threatened to sue the women who have publicly accused him.
Laaksonen is now the 12th women to come forward since The Washington Post published Donald Trump’s 2005 hot-mic comments in which he boasted of groping women. He has apologized and said that was “locker room” talk.
Laaksonen could not be reached for comment on Friday.
