Rachel Crooks, one of the numerous women who has accused our sitting president of sexual assault, sat down with CNN’s New Day on Monday to discuss why she feels Trump’s accusers are being left behind. Watch the video below.
An obscene amount of powerful men in entertainment, politics, and the media accused of sexual assault and harassment. Many of those men are finally facing the consequences; Donald Trump’s 13 accusers have remained mostly unheard.
“I mean I thought people would take it seriously. Being the President of the U.S. is such a highly regarded position and you want someone with a good character and this is obviously evidence of, not that. You know, he certainly has some flaws and I thought that people would, I don’t know – take that into account at the polls.” – Crooks
Why is it that despite these allegations, Trump is still President of the United States? Crooks argues that the issue is partisan politics and a culture that considers accusations to be “inconvenient.”
“I think it’s just evidence of sort of the political atmosphere these days. I mean we’re forgotten by politicians who think it’s more convenient to keep Trump in office and you know have him just sweeping his indiscretions under the rug, we’re forgotten by the people who want to put party above all else. And that’s sad because this should be bigger than politics.”
In 2005, Crooks was assaulted by Trump while working for Bayrock Group. The company is located in Trump Tower led by Felix Sater, a longtime business partner of Trump’s with ties to the Russian mafia. Crooks saw Trump regularly as he used the elevators in front of the Bayrock office. One day, she decided to introduce herself to him, knowing that he was a partner of the company. Trump took her hand and kissed her cheeks “over and over again” while making small talk. Finally, he kissed Crooks on the lips. The strange encounter left her reeling.
Crooks’ intention was to network. She recalls feeling demoralized that Trump lacked the respect to treat her as a human being.
“How many people has he done this to?”
Overlooking the accusations against Trump out of political convenience sends a message to women everywhere that their voices don’t matter. According to Crooks, the wave of allegations against Trump during his campaign gave her a sense of closure for the first time.
“But it really made me feel like ok, it wasn’t me, obviously it was him and this is, you know, a characteristic of his behavior, I mean he seems to be doing this to a lot of different women.”
Crooks does not want to be forgotten, and she shouldn’t be. She hopes that if the American public won’t listen now, that perhaps they will during the next election cycle. It is up to Americans everywhere to be clear at the polls: we will not tolerate a man accused of serial sexual assault in a position of power.
