Trump sexual assault accuser E Jean Carroll says she's 'sick' nothing has happened to him: 'We have to change this culture'

President denies incident, said to have happened in New York department store

The latest woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault has said she feels sick nothing has happened to him despite numerous allegations, saying: “We have to change this culture of sexual violence.”

Last week, in extracts of a forthcoming memoir published by New York magazine, columnist and writer E Jean Carroll claimed the president assaulted her in a dressing room in New York’s Bergdorf Goodman department store two decades ago. She said he pushed her against the wall, unzipped his trousers and entered her.

The president, 73, has denied the allegation, claiming he has never met the writer, despite the existence of photograph of them at a party, and said she is merely trying to sell her book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.

On Monday, Ms Carroll, 75, said Mr Trump’s response to her claim followed the pattern he adopted when other women had accused of him of sexual assault. During the 2016 presidential campaign, at least 16 women made various claims.

“With all the 16 women who have come forward, it’s the same — he denies it, he turns it around, he attacks, and he threatens,” she told CNN. “Then everybody forgets it, and then the next woman comes along. And I am sick of it. We have to change this culture of sexual violence.”

In the extract of her book, Ms Carroll wrote: “The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me. It turns into a colossal struggle.”

She said she had not reported the incident to the police, or gone public, at the time, because she was told by a friend “he has 200 lawyers. He’ll bury you”.

CNN presenter Alisyn Camerota suggested to Ms Carroll what she had described met the legal definition of rape. She replied: “I don’t use the word. I have difficulty with the word. I see it as a fight. I don’t want to be seen as a victim because I quickly went past it. It was a very brief episode of my life. I’m very careful with that word.”

However, she said she would now consider making a report to the police.

The photograph of the cover of New York magazine claimed Ms Carroll was wearing the same dress she was on the day of the alleged assault. In an echo of the DNA sample of Bill Clinton notoriously collected from Monica Lewinsky’s blue dress 20 years ago, Ms Carroll was asked if her dress could provide evidence of what she says happened.

“The thing is we all have dresses, we just hang them in the closet, something [bad], you didn’t have a good time wearing it, and you never put it on again because it’s just a bad-luck dress,” said Ms Carroll. “I never felt like putting it on again. I did not turn it into a talisman, I didn’t wrap it in plastic, I didn’t think, I just didn’t want to put it on again.”

The president has denied the claim.

“False accusations diminish the severity of real assault. All should condemn false accusations and any actual assault in the strongest possible terms,” he said.

“If anyone has information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms Carroll or New York Magazine, please notify us as soon as possible.”