Trump accuser says the president 'should be afraid'

A woman who claims President Donald Trump forcibly kissed her in 2006 told CNN on Tuesday night that she was “not surprised” that the president called her a liar in a tweet and that “he should be afraid” of the truth coming out.

"It is the first time, I guess, he's attacked me personally on Twitter, but his whole approach to this has been to deny the allegation of myself and, like you said, almost 20 women who have come forward. So it's not surprising," Rachel Crooks said in an interview. "But I would think as our president he would have more important things to do than tweet at me and try to discredit my story. I know what's true, he knows what's true and I think he should be afraid of that."


Crooks has been among the most vocal of the at least 16 women who have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against the president, accusations that the president has vehemently denied. Crooks is running this year for a seat in Ohio’s state Legislature and her story was featured in a Washington Post story earlier this week with the online headline, “Is anyone listening?”

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Seemingly incensed by the story, Trump lashed out online, accusing Crooks of lying about him and his accusers of being paid to level damaging allegations against him.

“A woman I don’t know and, to the best of my knowledge, never met, is on the FRONT PAGE of the Fake News Washington Post saying I kissed her (for two minutes yet) in the lobby of Trump Tower 12 years ago. Never happened! Who would do this in a public space with live security cameras running,” Trump wrote online. “Another False Accusation. Why doesn’t @washingtonpost report the story of the women taking money to make up stories about me? One had her home mortgage paid off. Only @FoxNews so reported...doesn’t fit the Mainstream Media narrative.”

