Trump repeats contested claim he does not know latest sexual assault accuser

Donald Trump has claimed again not to know the latest women to publicly accuse him of sexual assault, E Jean Carroll, after his claim on Friday that he had never met her was disproved by a photograph of them together at a party.

The photo was included in the New York magazine article in which Carroll, a writer and celebrated advice columnist, made public her allegation that Trump assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

“I have no idea who this woman is,” Trump told reporters at the White House, as he left for weekend meetings at Camp David.

When a reporter reminded the president that he and Carroll had appeared in a photo together, he replied: “Standing with my coat on in a line, give me a break. With my back to the camera. I have no idea who she is.”

In the article – an extract from her new book, What Do We Need Men For? – Carroll alleged that in late 1995 or early 1996, Trump asked her for advice on a gift to buy a female friend.

In a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan, Carroll wrote, Trump lunged at her and for the next three minutes sexually assaulted her.

“He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights,” she wrote.

Carroll said there was then a “colossal struggle” as Trump opened “the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway – or completely, I’m not certain – inside me”.

New York magazine said two of Carroll’s friends – prominent but unnamed journalists – said she told them about the alleged assault at the time and that they had full recollection of her account.

On Friday, Trump responded to the allegation for the first time, saying in a statement: “I’ve never met this person in my life.

“She is trying to sell a new book – that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section.”

Trump’s claim that the two had never met was not true. The New York article included a photo of Trump next to his then-wife Ivana Trump and facing Carroll and her then-husband, TV news anchor John Johnson, at a party sometime around 1987.

More than 20 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Carroll listed 15 of them in her article: Jessica Leeds, Kristin Anderson, Jill Harth, Cathy Heller, Temple Taggart McDowell, Karena Virginia, Melinda McGillivray, Rachel Crooks, Natasha Stoynoff, Jessica Drake, Ninni Laaksonen, Summer Zervos, Juliet Huddy, Alva Johnson and Cassandra Searles.

Trump and his allies have dismissed each accusation as a lie.