Former Miss Finland says Donald Trump grabbed her in 2006
In a new interview, former Miss Finland Ninni Laaksonen says she was groped by Donald Trump 10 years ago. She is now the 13th woman in recent weeks to accuse the Republican presidential nominee of sexual misconduct.
According to the Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, which published its story Thursday, the incident took place in New York City in 2006, just before Laaksonen and three other Miss Universe contestants were set to appear alongside Trump on the “Late Show With David Letterman.” Trump owned the Miss Universe beauty pageant at the time.
“Before the show we were photographed outside the building,” Laaksonen told Ilta-Sanomat. “Trump stood next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt. He really grabbed my butt. I don’t think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought, ‘What is happening?'”
A clip from that “Late Show” episode is below:
Laaksonen, now 30, added that she and the other contestants attended a party where, she recalled, “somebody told me there that Trump liked me because I looked like [Trump’s wife] Melania when she was younger.”
The comment, she said, “left me disgusted.”
Laaksonen joins a growing list of women who’ve accused the presidential hopeful of unwanted touching, kissing and even assault. Many of those who’ve come forward in recent weeks have said they were motivated to do so following the release of a 2005 recording in which Trump is heard boasting about grabbing and kissing women without consent, and his subsequent insistence during a presidential debate that his comments were simply “locker-room talk.”
Laaksonen, however, spoke out about Trump only after she was contacted by Ilta-Sanomat as part of a series of interviews the paper has conducted with Finnish women who’ve met Trump.
A spokesperson for the candidate did not immediately respond to Yahoo News’ request for comment on the latest accusation. Trump, however, has repeatedly denied the previous 12 allegations on the campaign trail, calling the women “liars” and even threatening to sue them all once the election is over.
