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Woman Suing Trump on Rape Charges a No-Show at Press Conference

The plaintiff, who has only gone by "Jane Doe" in court documents, did not appear at a scheduled press conference due to purported threats.

Published Nov. 2, 2016

A California woman who has accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of raping her when she was just thirteen years old was set to break her silence in Los Angeles today, but was a no-show in a hastily scheduled press conference.

The woman, who has only gone by "Jane Doe" in court documents,was set to appear at the office of Los Angeles-area attorney Lisa Bloom, who said that the accuser was set to speak but backed out at the last minute because of threats to her safety:

I apologize. Jane Doe was here. She was prepared to go forward. She received terrible threats, as have all the Trump accusers I have been representing for several months. She is in great fear and she was unable to do this.

According to the complaint, re-filed on 30 September 2016, the assaults took place over the course of several parties thrown by billionaire Jeffrey Epstein during the summer of 1994:

Plaintiff was enticed by promises of money and a modeling career to attend a series of parties, with other similarly situated minor females, held at a New York City residence that was being used by Defendant Jeffrey Epstein. At least four of the parties were attended by Defendant Trump. Exhs. A and B. On information and belief, by this time in 1994, DefendantTrump had known Defendant Epstein for seven years (New York, 10/28/02, “'I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,' Trump booms from a speakerphone.' He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.'"), and knew that Plaintiff was then just 13 years old.

Both Trump and Epstein are named as defendants in the lawsuit. According to the court documents, Doe she never spoke out because she was threatened by both men:

Both Defendants let Plaintiff know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threats. Indeed, Defendant Trump stated that Plaintiff shouldn’t ever say anything if she didn’t want to disappear like Maria, a 12-year-old female that was forced to be involved in the third incident with Defendant Trump and that Plaintiff had not seen since that third incident, and that he was capable of having her whole family killed.

Epstein has been repeatedly accused of soliciting sex from underaged girls, and was convicted once, in 2008. According to court documents, Trump not only raped the plaintiff but struck her and threatened her:

On the fourth and final sexual encounter with Defendant Trump, Defendant Trump tied Plaintiff to a bed, exposed himself to Plaintiff, and then proceeded to forcibly rape Plaintiff. During the course of this savage sexual attack, Plaintiff loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop but with no effect. Defendant Trump responded to Plaintiff’s pleas by violently striking Plaintiff in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted...

Defendant Epstein forced himself upon Plaintiff and proceeded to rape her anally and vaginally despite her loud pleas to stop. Defendant Epstein then attempted to strike Plaintiff about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at Plaintiff that he, Defendant Epstein, rather than Defendant Trump, should have been the one who took Plaintiff’s virginity, before Plaintiff finally managed to break away from Defendant Epstein.

The accuser has never publicly come forward.

Bloom did not respond to repeated requests for comments or clarification after the press conference.

Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who has been working in the news industry since 2006.