Update 6:15pm ET:The press conference has been called off because the alleged rape victim has received threats and is afraid to show her face.
A woman who has sued Donald Trump for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 13 years old was due to speak publicly today, according to her lawyer Lisa Bloom. But Bloom canceled the press conference a few minutes after it was scheduled to begin.
Bloom, who is the daughter of prominent civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents some of the women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct, announced that “Jane Doe” would hold a press conference at 3PM Pacific time (6pm ET) in Los Angeles.
“More than four months ago a woman using the pseudonym ‘Jane Doe’ sued Donald Trump for a series of sexual assaults that she alleges occurred at parties in New York in 1994. Jane Doe was just thirteen years old at the time,” Bloom wrote on her website. “Jane Doe will break her silence today.”
Bloom noted that she had written a piece for the Huffington Post about the case in June of this year, but that the “mainstream media has failed to cover the story.”
The media have, in fact, covered the story: The Guardian uncovered that lawsuits against Trump were being coordinated by a former TV producer who has been linked to other disputed claims involving celebrities; Jezebel reported that information about the alleged rape was being shopped around outlets in a somewhat shady way, and made the case that Jane Doe was the same person as Katie Johnson, who in April filed a lawsuit in California which was dismissed.
“Jane Doe’s” Wednesday appearance would have been her first time to speak about the case in public.
A federal judge in New York, has, however set a court date for Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire and convicted sex offender in whose home Trump is alleged to have raped the 13-year-old.
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