E. Jean Carroll, the advice columnist who has accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s, is considering bringing a complaint to the New York Police Department, The Guardian reports. Carroll told CNN on Monday that she would be open to working with the NYPD in a criminal investigation into the attack she alleges happened in the Manhattan store of Bergdorf Goodman in late 1995 or early 1996. She noted that lawyers had advised her that the statute of limitations deadline by which such a complaint would have had to be brought has expired. The advice columnist, whose column Ask E. Jean has been a popular feature of Elle for almost 30 years, made her allegations in New York magazine on Friday. Her comments to CNN were the first time she has been seen on camera telling her story.
Trump has issued blanket denials. On Saturday he said he had “no idea” who Carroll was, despite a photograph of the two meeting in a social setting from the late 1980s. The president suggested that Carroll’s allegations are designed to make money out of book sales. He has also floated the theory that the report was a conspiracy to discredit him in the week he launched his campaign for re-election. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is running for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in 2020, said that were Carroll to come forward with her allegations, he would authorise a police investigation. “We will find out the truth,” he said. CNN’s Alisyn Camerota told Carroll that her description of the incident constituted rape. Carroll disagreed, saying, “I don’t use the word. I have difficulty with the word. I see it as a fight.”