In a New York magazine cover story published Friday, author E. Jean Carroll accused President Trump of raping her in a dressing room of New York's Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.

Why it matters: Carroll's accusation is the 16th allegation of sexual misconduct or assault levied against the president throughout his time in public life — all of which he has denied.

Trump was caught on tape in 2005 during filming for an episode of "Access Hollywood" discussing groping and kissing women and saying that "when you’re a star, they let you do it." That tape was given to the Washington Post during the 2016 election.

The White House issued a statement on Friday evening in which Trump claimed he "never met this person in my life," despite the New York magazine article featuring a photo of Trump and Carroll together in 1987.

Between the lines: It's unusual to see a sexual assault allegation written in first person — the piece is an excerpt from Carroll's forthcoming book "What Do We Need Men For: A Modest Proposal?" — but Carroll says she disclosed the incident to two friends soon afterward, which New York magazine says it verified.

The big picture: The Trump account is only one portion of Carroll's piece, which includes her recounting other instances of alleged sexual assault at the hands of multiple men — including former CBS CEO and Chairman Les Moonves. She claims Moonves forced himself on her in a Beverly Hills hotel elevator after she interviewed him for a 1997 Esquire piece.

Go deeper: The lasting health effects of sexual assault