Ex-Donald Trump Staffers Accuse Him of Sexual Harassment in the White House

Staffers who worked in Donald Trump's White House have accused him of sexual harassment after a jury on Tuesday found the former president liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll.

The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in a judgment that could haunt Trump as he campaigns for a second term.

Jurors rejected Carroll's claim that she was raped in the dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman store in 1996, finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. They also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll over her allegations. Trump's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said the former president planned to appeal.

Trump lashed out at the verdict on his social media platform, Truth Social. In a post, he said he has "ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA" who Carroll is and that the verdict is "A DISGRACE" and "CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!"

A protester holds up signs outside a Manhattan Federal Court after a jury found former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s on May 9, 2023 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Discussing the verdict on CNN, Alyssa Farah Griffin, who quit as White House communications director in December 2020, said Trump had a pattern of behaving inappropriately with women while in the White House.

Newsweek has contacted Trump's office for comment via email.

"I have countless cases of what I considered impropriety in the White House that I brought to the chief of staff because I thought the way he engaged with women was dangerous," Farah Griffin said.

Alyssa Farah Griffin former Trump White House Communications Director says she brought to Mark Meadows countless incidents of Trump towards Women.pic.twitter.com/kJRJRXEkSE — ✶Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD3_) May 9, 2023

She noted that she wasn't the only one to report Trump's behavior to his chiefs of staff, including Mark Meadows. "Nothing that rises to this level but things that I would consider improper and that I had a duty to report," she said.

Farah Griffin also urged voters to "pay attention" and for Republicans to "stop making apologies" for Trump.

"When Donald Trump tells you who he is, believe him," she said.

"We wanted to chalk it up to locker room talk in 2016. It was not locker room talk," she added, referring to the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood hot-mic recording of Trump talking about kissing and grabbing women without asking.

Staffers who worked in Donald Trump's White House Stephanie Grisham (left) and Alyssa Farah Griffin (right) have accused him of sexual harassment. Getty/Newsweek

Stephanie Grisham, former Trump White House press secretary, said she had reported Trump's behavior towards a woman on her team to Meadows and other chiefs of staff.

Newsweek reached out to Mark Meadows via the website of the Conservative Partnership Institute, where he is senior partner.

Trump would often comment on women's looks, Grisham told CNN's Erin Burnett, but "with this one staffer, it was it was really bad to the point that I was extremely uncomfortable."

Trump would request the staffer in question to be on foreign trips "when it wasn't her turn," Grisham said. "He one time had one of my other deputies bring her back so that they could look at her ass is what he said to him."

Grisham said: "I did everything I could to keep her off of trips actually and to stay with her if she was with him alone, because I was really nervous about what could happen and this was before I knew kind of any of the the E. Jean Carroll allegations. I stupidly did know about the Access Hollywood video but maybe that was what made me you know, keep with her all the time."

Grisham said every senior staff member was aware of Trump's behavior, but there was little they could do.

"I think at the end of the day, what could they do other than go in there and say, 'This isn't good, sir?'" she said. "And you know, Donald Trump will do what Donald Trump wants to do."