E. Jean Carroll to the NYT: 'I have not been raped. Something has not been done to me. I fought, that's the thing.'

Greg P. | 8:24 AM on June 27, 2019

The New York Times has a new interview up with E. Jean Carroll, the former advice columnist who accused President Donald Trump of assaulting her inside the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the ’90’s, as well as with her two alleged witnesses who are being identified publicly for the first time:

Exclusive: E. Jean Carroll told 2 women that Donald Trump assaulted her in the 1990s. On "The Daily," the women discuss it publicly for the first time. https://t.co/9JrG9NSmVE

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 27, 2019

The two witnesses are Carol Martin and Lisa Birnbach:

Our reporter @mega2e interviewed E. Jean Carroll and the 2 women, Carol Martin and Lisa Birnbach, who were well-known figures in the ’90s world of New York media. They had not been publicly identified until now. https://t.co/AOITKV6hOb

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 27, 2019

According to the New York Times, Carroll, who allegedly invited Trump into the dressing room because she thought he would try on a piece of sexy lingerie over his suit, blamed herself for whatever allegedly did or did not happen that day. From the NYT:

Both knew or had met Mr. Trump during that period: Ms. Birnbach had recently interviewed him at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Fla., while Ms. Martin had met him at her news station and had a friend who briefly dated him.

• When Ms. Carroll told the two women about the alleged attack, they had very different reactions: Ms. Birnbach said she told Ms. Carroll to call the police, while Ms. Martin told Ms. Carroll not to talk about it because Mr. Trump was too powerful. Ultimately, Ms. Carroll, thinking she was partially to blame for the encounter, remained silent about it for decades.

“I said: Don’t tell anybody. I wouldn’t tell anybody this,” Ms. Martin said.

• Ms. Carroll eventually stopped believing that what happened to her was her fault, but she does not want to consider herself a victim and does not describe the incident as a rape.