Donald Trump accused of sexual assault by model at US Open tennis in 1997

A former model has accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her at the US Open tennis championship 23 years ago.

Amy Dorris, 48, said she felt ‘sick’ and ‘violated’ after the alleged assault in Trump’s VIP box at the tournament in New York on September 5, 1997.

Trump denies the claim.  

In an interview with The Guardian, Dorris alleges that Trump forced his tongue down her throat held her in a ‘tentacle’-like grip that she could not escape from.

‘He just shoved his tongue down my throat and I was pushing him off,’ she said. And then that’s when his grip became tighter and his hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything.

‘I was in his grip, and I couldn’t get out of it. I don’t know what you call that when you’re sticking your tongue just down someone’s throat. But I pushed it out with my teeth. I was pushing it. And I think I might have hurt his tongue.’

Trump’s lawyers have denied ‘in the strongest possible terms’ that the president ever harassed, abused or behaved improperly toward Dorris. 

The president’s lawyers told the Guardian that there would have been numerous witnesses to any sexual misconduct in the VIP box. 

Dorris says she was introduced to Trump in 1997 by her then-boyfriend, Jason Binn, who knew the real estate tycoon and later described him as his ‘best friend’.   

She claims that she was taken to meet the future president at Trump Tower before the three of them went to the US Open at Flushing Meadows.  

Dorris, then aged 24, alleges that Trump ‘came on very strong right away’ despite the fact that her boyfriend was sitting with her. 

According to her account, she returned from a trip to the bathroom to find Trump forcing himself on her – saying she felt like she was suffocating in his ‘octopus-like grip. 

She alleges that Trump continued to assault her despite her pleas with him to ‘get away’, claiming that the tycoon ‘didn’t care’. 

Dorris says she returned to Trump’s VIP box the following day, claiming that Trump continued to pursue her but did not assault her again.   

Other guests in the box are said to have included the actor Leonardo DiCaprio and the illusionist David Blaine.   

Dorris says she was in Trump’s presence again two days later at a memorial service for Gianni Versace, the fashion designer shot dead weeks earlier.  

Binn, who has not commented on his ex-girlfriend’s claims, is the founder of luxury lifestyle magazines including DuJour magazine.  

Trump was pictured watching that year’s US Open with his ex-wife Ivana and other guests at the Flushing Meadows tennis grounds in Queens. 

At the time of the alleged assault, Trump was 51 and married to his second wife Marla Maples, whom he married in 1993 and divorced in 1999.  

Dorris says she considered speaking out in 2016 when numerous women accused Trump of sexual assault in the weeks before the presidential election. 

Trump denied all the claims, alleging that his accusers had fabricated their stories in order to damage his campaign.   

Dorris said she was coming forward now in order to be a ‘role model’ to her twin daughters, who are 13 years old.  

Some of the previous cases are still being contested in the courts, including an allegation by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos that he kissed and groped her on two occasions in 2007. 

Zervos is suing Trump for defamation for suggesting that she lied when she came forward during the 2016 campaign. 

The new claim comes just weeks before the November 3 election in which Trump is vying for a second term against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.