Washington: US President Donald Trump has dismissed allegations that he raped a woman in a dressing room in the mid-1990s, terming it “fiction”.
E. Jean Carroll, 75, a television show host and magazine columnist, made the accusation in an essay published on Friday in NY Magazine, the local media reported.
The President said he has never met Carroll and the writer’s motivation behind the claim was to “sell a new book”.
“I’ve never met this person in my life,” the US President said in a statement. “She is trying to sell a new book-that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section.”
Trump encouraged anyone with “information that the Democratic Party is working with Carroll or New York Magazine” to notify the White House.
He accused the publication of “peddling fake news”.
“Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda,” he said.
“It’s just as bad for people to believe it, particularly when there is zero evidence,” he added.
In his statement, Trump thanked Bergdorf Goodman for “confirming they have no video footage of any such incident”.
Carroll has said that the rape happened in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room, in New York, in the mid-1990s.
Carroll, the 16th woman to accuse Trump of sexual assault, wrote that inside the changing room, he had pinned her to the wall.
