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2 Women Publicly Corroborate E. Jean Carroll's Allegations Of Sexual Assault By Trump

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Two women have now publicly corroborated E. Jean Carroll's allegations of sexual assault by President Trump. Carroll, a writer and magazine columnist, alleges that Trump assaulted her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.

NPR's Elizabeth Blair has talked to one of the women corroborating Carroll's allegation. A note of caution for our listeners - this story includes an explicit description of assault.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: E. Jean Carroll claims that in the mid-1990s, she bumped into Donald Trump at Bergdorf Goodman and that he asked her for help finding a gift for a girl. She agreed. Carroll told NPR last weekend they ended up in the lingerie department.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

E JEAN CARROLL: He had grabbed up from the counter a little see-through bodysuit and told me to go try it on. And I said, no, you go try it on. He said, no, it looks like it fits you. I said, no, it goes with your eyes. The whole thing - I'm just running a comedy script in my head.

BLAIR: Then, Carroll says, she made a terrible mistake by going into a dressing room with Trump. In her book, she writes that he held her against the wall, pulled down her tights and thrust his penis inside her.

LISA BIRNBACH: I said, E. Jean, that's rape.

BLAIR: Lisa Birnbach is a writer best known for "The Official Preppy Handbook." Today, she hosts the podcast "5 Things That Make Life Better."

BIRNBACH: I said, you know, you should go to the police. No, I don't want to go to the police. I said, I'll take you to the police. And she said, no, I just want to go home; I just want to be in my house. I think she just wanted to unload this terribly traumatic thing that happened to her to someone.

BLAIR: Carroll called her friend Carol Martin, who also corroborated the story to The New York Times. President Trump has vehemently denied E. Jean Carroll's allegations, saying, she's not my type, and that he has no idea who she is.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: So it's a total false accusation, and I don't know anything about her.

BLAIR: More than a dozen women have made sexual misconduct allegations against Trump. Lisa Birnbach says she came forward to help establish E. Jean Carroll's credibility. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News.