• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
MPWMost Powerful Women

Woman Who Accused Donald Trump of Sexual Assault: ‘Don’t Call Me a Liar’

By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 21, 2016, 3:24 PM ET
US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-CONVENTION
Photograph by Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images

This story has been updated to include a comment from the Trump campaign. See below.

Donald Trump’s past behavior towards women keeps coming back to haunt him.

On Tuesday, Jill Harth, the woman who sued Trump in 1997, alleging “attempted rape,” spoke to The Guardian after keeping quiet about her experience for nearly 20 years.

 

Harth, who now works as a makeup artist, alleges that the GOP nominee tried to rape her in January 1993 while she was visiting his Mar-a-Lago estate with her then-romantic partner to celebrate a business deal.

“He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,” Harth told The Guardian. “And I had to physically say: ‘What are you doing? Stop it.’ It was a shocking thing to have him do this because he knew I was with [my partner] George, he knew they were in the next room. And how could he be doing this when I’m there for business?”

And Trump’s pursuit of her didn’t end there, she recalled. After the assault, “Trump did everything in his power to get me to leave [my partner]. He constantly called me and said: ‘I love you, baby, I’m going to be the best lover you ever had. What are you doing with that loser, you need to be with me, you need to step it up to the big leagues.’”

Subscribe to the Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the world’s most powerful women.

The reason Harth has decided to speak up now, she explained, is that she is angry with how Trump’s campaign has branded her a liar and called her suit “meritless.”

“He didn’t have to say anything,” Harth said. “For once, he should have closed his mouth. He didn’t have to comment…What is happening now is of his own making, OK? I was quiet.”

While she said it would be nice to get an apology from the billionaire, she doesn’t expect one. “But he really should have been taught, if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything, OK? Don’t call me a liar.”

Hope Hicks, the Trump campaign’s press secretary, wrote in an email to Fortune that Harth “obviously has a serious credibility issue and her motives are highly questionable. There is no truth to these claims and it is unfortunate that we need to respond to these false accusations.”

About the Author
By Valentina Zarya
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
In 2026, many employers are ditching merit-based pay bumps in favor of ‘peanut butter raises’
By Emma BurleighFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Cybersecurity
Top AI leaders are begging people not to use Moltbook, a social media platform for AI agents: It’s a ‘disaster waiting to happen’
By Eva RoytburgFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Meet the Palm Beach billionaire who paid $2 million for a private White House visit with Trump
By Tristan BoveFebruary 3, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
North America
Gates Foundation doubles down on foreign aid as U.S. government largely withdraws
By Thalia Beaty and The Associated PressFebruary 3, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
By Jacqueline MunisFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Investing
Tech stocks go into free fall as it dawns on traders that AI has the ability to cut revenues across the board
By Jim EdwardsFebruary 4, 2026
7 hours ago

Latest in MPW

MagazineVictoria's Secret
How Victoria’s Secret got its sexy back
By Emma HinchliffeFebruary 4, 2026
8 hours ago
Workplace CultureSports
Exclusive: Billionaire Michele Kang launches $25 million U.S. Soccer institute that promises to transform the future of women’s sports
By Emma HinchliffeDecember 2, 2025
2 months ago
C-SuiteLeadership Next
Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman says she has the best job ever: ‘My job is to help make people feel really good about themselves’
By Fortune EditorsNovember 5, 2025
3 months ago
ConferencesMPW Summit
Executives at DoorDash, Airbnb, Sephora and ServiceNow agree: leaders need to be agile—and be a ‘swan’ on the pond
By Preston ForeOctober 21, 2025
4 months ago
Jessica Wu, co-founder and CEO of Sola, at Fortune MPW 2025
MPW
Experts say the high failure rate in AI adoption isn’t a bug, but a feature: ‘Has anybody ever started to ride a bike on the first try?’
By Dave SmithOctober 21, 2025
4 months ago
Jamie Dimon with his hand up at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit
SuccessProductivity
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says if you check your email in meetings, he’ll tell you to close it: ’it’s disrespectful’
By Preston ForeOctober 17, 2025
4 months ago