Karena Virginia Is The 10th Woman To Accuse Trump

On Thursday morning, another woman came forward alleging sexual misconduct by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Karena Virginia is the 10th woman to accuse Trump of unwanted sexual advances. Trump has denied all of the allegations put forward against him, including this one. "Discredited political operative Gloria Allred, in another coordinated, publicity seeking attack with the Clinton campaign, will stop at nothing to smear Mr. Trump," Jessica Ditto, deputy communications director for the Trump campaign, told Bustle in a statement. "Give me a break. Voters are tired of these circus-like antics and reject these fictional stories and the clear efforts to benefit Hillary Clinton."

At a tearful news conference, Virginia, who is represented by Allred, told reporters of her alleged interaction with Trump in 1998, when, after reportedly visually and verbally sizing her up outside the U.S. Open in Queens, he allegedly approached her, grabbed her arm, and touched her breast without her consent.

“I have been fearful of bringing unwanted attention to my loving family and me,” Virginia said to reporters. However, she added that she felt it was her "duty as a woman, as a mother, a human being and as an American citizen to speak out and tell the truth."

In her account of the alleged incident, Virginia relayed Trump’s denigrating words: “He said, ‘Hey, look at this one. We haven’t seen this one before. Look at those legs,’ as if I was an object rather than a person.”

Virginia is a yoga teacher and lifestyle coach from the New York area, and said that Trump’s treatment of her affected her deeply, and even changed the way she dressed. “For a number of years afterward, I struggled with what to wear so as not to attract unwanted attention,” she said, saying she would opt to wear shawls or longer dresses.

And it reportedly wasn’t her final interaction with Trump either. “About five years ago, I saw Mr. Trump once again. This time, we were at a business setting and there were many people around. He looked me up and down a few times. This time, mixed in with the feelings of shame, I felt disgust,” Virginia said.

These latest accusations come at the end of a bad stretch for Trump’s bid for the presidency, which began when the Washington Post released tapes of Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women. Days later, during the second presidential debate, Trump claimed that he had never done the things he spoke about on the tapes, which prompted several women to come forward and contradict the candidate. Trump re-asserted at Wednesday’s debate that these accusations were “all fiction,” but that didn’t dissuade Virginia from coming forward.

“I have been advised that Mr. Trump will call me a liar, or perhaps he will label me as just another ‘nasty woman,’” Virginia said, referencing Trump’s snipe at Hillary Clinton at Wednesday’s debate.

Speaking directly to Trump, Virginia claimed, “Perhaps you do not remember me or what you did to me so many years ago, but I can assure you that I remember you and what you did to me as though it was yesterday.”

If this steady stream of accusers continue, even if Trump continues to deny them and claim it's all coordinated by the Clinton campaign, it’s unlikely that voters will be able to forget it either.