Trump Brazenly Preyed On Me as Epstein Watched: Model
In a new episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, Williams says the incident unfolded after Epstein had suggested they stop by Trump Tower while taking a walk down Fifth Avenue.
'Donald came out of his office right outside of, in sort of the waiting area, and started groping me while the two of them continued having a casual conversation,' Williams tells host Joanna Coles on The Daily Beast Podcast. 'He's just moving his hands sort of up and down my body and like smiling at him and Jeffrey smiling back.'
Williams was 25 at the time, while Trump was around 46.
Williams first came forward with the allegations in October 2024 during a call organized by Survivors for Kamala, a group of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence supporting Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. At the time, the Trump campaign denied her account.
'These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false. It's obvious this fake story was contrived by the Harris campaign,' Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to The Guardian at the time.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Williams says she first met Trump—then still a real estate developer—during a taping of Saturday Night Live, where she says he immediately made her feel 'uncomfortable' by being 'extremely flirtatious,' even though his then-girlfriend and future wife, Marla Maples, was present.
But she says Epstein, 'always talked about Donald,' and that Trump was 'ever-present in those conversations and in those months.' When Epstein proposed dropping by Trump's office, she didn't think twice about it.
'I knew at that point how close they were, what good friends they were,' Williams said. 'That wasn't the first time I'm hearing about the degree of their connection where it's normal or comfortable to just stop by his office in the middle of the day.'
'So I said, oh, all right. OK, let's stop by,' she recalls.
Williams says that she froze as Trump began groping her, caught off guard by how brazenly he did it while carrying on his conversation with Epstein.
'I was just confused because they were continuing to talk, as if nothing's happening,' she says. 'Everything Donald does is hidden in its brazenness. You just do it right out there and everyone goes 'Well, that can't be happening because it's totally wrong and he's doing it right in front of everyone, so therefore it can't be happening.' I mean that's what went through my head at that point.'
Noting that she had, by that point, garnered a reputation in the modeling industry for standing up for herself in the face of inappropriate photographers, Williams added: 'For me to freeze, you know how masterful he is, in a way, to pull that off.'
Afterwards, in the elevator down, Williams says Epstein 'had a really enraged look on his face.'
'By the time we get out on the street—we got out on Fifth Avenue—he just turned and started yelling at me and said, 'Why did you let him do that?'' she recalls.
Williams, now 57, suspects that Epstein had expected her to fight back as she had told him she was used to pushing back against unwanted advances. She says she stopped seeing Epstein soon after.
Later in 1993, she says Trump sent her a postcard with an aerial view of Mar-a-Lago, writing, 'Stacey—your home away from home. Love, Donald,' using a black Sharpie.
Leavitt has previously argued that the handwriting on the postcard was not Trump's.
Two friends confirmed to The Guardian, which first reported Williams's story, that she had told them years ago about the alleged incident.
Williams' accusation of groping and unwanted sexual advances echoes a broader pattern: about two dozen women have accused the former president of sexual misconduct spanning several decades, according to The Guardian.
In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996.
Williams, a native of rural Pennsylvania, arrived in New York as an 18-year-old in 1986 after being signed by a modeling agency.
She says she first met Epstein through her agent, but that they only exchanged numbers after meeting again at a Christmas party in the Plaza Hotel hosted by Trump in 1992, after which they dated casually for a period of a few months.
She describes dating Epstein as 'not really dating' and 'very odd,' because 'he didn't like to go to restaurants. He said he didn't like humanity.'
She says they spoke almost daily over the phone for around four to five months, and they 'didn't have a very sexual relationship.'
Still, she saw flashes of a 'dark and twisted' side of Epstein, often through 'subtle' threats he would make. At one point, she says he told her he had filmed her nude in his bedroom. 'He liked to intimidate,' she says.
Williams says the MeToo movement prompted her to revisit her experiences with Epstein and Trump and 'start connecting more dots.'
Epstein and Trump were friends from the late 1980s through to 2004, when they had a falling out because Epstein 'stole' Trump's staff, the 79-year-old president recently revealed. Trump says he was never aware of Epstein's crimes.
Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, but only served a controversial 13-month stint in county jail. In 2019, he was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and died in jail while awaiting trial on charges that could have led to a life sentence. His death was ruled a suicide.
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