For nearly a week, rumors of a major negative story against former President Donald Trump have been percolating online, egged on by anonymous sources at CNN and other mainstream media outlets claiming they were approached with the story. In the end, the final attempt to derail Trump’s bid for a second term may have fallen flat, after the alleged victim’s timeline was debunked.
Details of the story began to emerge late Wednesday when Stacey Williams, a former fashion model, came forward alleging Trump groped her breast 31 years ago during a private party allegedly involving notorious sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Guardian, which spoke with Williams, wrote the alleged encounter was part of a “twisted game” that Trump and Epstein were taking part in. Williams, 56, claimed the late Epstein introduced her to Trump during a 1992 Christmas party. “It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,” Williams said in her far-fetched recounting.
The alleged groping is said to have occurred several months later in Trump Tower after Epstein suggested she join him there for a visit. “Late winter/early spring of ’93, I was on a walk with Jeffrey from his brownstone on the Upper East Side down Fifth Avenue when Jeffrey looked at me and said: ‘You know, let’s go stop by and see Trump.’”
Williams said, a key quote that has raised serious questions about her timeline. Moments after arriving, she claimed, Trump greeted her before pulling her close and putting his hands “all over my breasts” and backside. In a statement, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt forcefully denied the story. “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,” Leavitt told the Guardian.
Sleuths on X pieced together a timeline of Epstein’s residence in New York City, a period which some say doesn’t align with Williams’s description. Vanity Fair previously reported that Epstein did not move into his Upper East Side brownstone cited by Williams until 1996, three years after the incident is said to have occurred in his presence. His name did not appear on ownership paperwork until 2011 when the $77 million property was transferred to him for $0 by an associate, Business Insider reported.
As part of its story, the Guardian released a videotaped interview with Williams who said she looks back on that day in horror. “It takes me back to that feeling of confusion and being frozen and humiliated, and I, that is why I am here tonight. I figured it was time to share this, and I am ready to win this election. The thought of that monster being back in the White House is my absolute worst nightmare,” she said.
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Williams’s coming forward is reminiscent of the October 2016 release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape which Hillary Clinton allies thought Trump’s crude remarks about women would spell an end to his campaign. Instead, the Republican brushed the tape away as “locker room talk” between men and largely escaped the matter unscathed. Whether he does so now, 13 days before Election Day, remains to be seen. A Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday morning confirmed that Trump carries a narrow national lead over Harris.
