A few weeks ago, Donald Trump was accused of raping a thirteen-year-old child in 1994, with the allegations filed with the United States Federal Court.
Though the woman, now thirty-years-old, claims that he forced sexual contact on her four times at the time, including once when he tied her to a bed and ‘forcibly raped’ her while she ‘loudly pleaded’ for him to stop, she has only spoken out now. Operating anonymously as Jane Doe, she is trying to get New York’s five year statute of limitations waved to file the charges, given that she was allegedly threatened by Trump that she and her family ‘would be physically harmed if not killed’ if she ever revealed the details.
The incidents allegedly occurred at a party hosted by Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of Trump’s who is a billionaire and known pedophile. The complaint even included a witness, Tiffany Doe, who allegedly saw all four incidents occur.
Trump even spoke out about Epstein’s character before his conviction, saying:
“Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Donald Trump has denied Jane Doe’s allegations against him, and his lawyer has claimed that they are ‘categorically false’ and ‘framed to solicit media attention’, or ‘politically motivated’.
However, this might be the first time you’re hearing about all this. Though Lisa Bloom of The Huffington Post and Clementine Ford of Daily Life have both written fiery articles about the accusations, there has been shockingly little coverage in the media about the incident.
Bloom argues that because the allegations align with Trump’s history of misogyny, have an eye witness to back them up and are relevant to Trump’s past incidents of sexual misconduct, they need to be taken seriously and must be investigated. She calls out a society that ignores such claims for ‘rape culture’.
Ford also argues that although Trump should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, the allegations are serious, and as she astutely points out: “he is not entitled to immunity from investigation because some people dislike the other candidate more.”
Hopefully we will hear more about these allegations in the coming months leading up to the election.
