A third woman has accused George H.W. Bush of groping her, saying he even used the same ‘David Cop-a-Feel’ joke another accuser mentioned.
Novelist Christina Baker Kline claims the former president’s wandering hands were caught in an official photo from a Houston event for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy in 2014.
In an essay for Slate, Kline says she and her husband approached Bush, now 93, for a photo after the private luncheon, to which she was invited as a guest author.
Kline writes that Bush told her he was beautiful and then, noting she is an author, said ‘You wanna know my favorite book?’
She writes: ‘By now the photographer was readying the shot. My husband stood on one side of the wheelchair, and I stood on the other. President Bush put his arm around me, low on my back.
Christina Baker Kline claims Bush’s wandering hands were caught in this official photo from a Houston event for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy in 2014
‘His comic timing was impeccable. “David Cop-a-feel,” he said, and squeezed my butt, hard, just as the photographer snapped the photo.’
Kline says her husband, who was also in the photo on the other side of Bush, was completely unaware of what was happening at the time.
‘I wasn’t traumatized. I’m not angry. But it shouldn’t have happened,’ Kline wrote, adding that she hopes coming forward would ‘begin to effect change’.
She concluded by quoting the Charles Dickens novel Bush’s pun is taken from, David Copperfield: ‘It’s in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.’
Her story echos the account of actress Jordana Grolnick, who claims that in 2016 the former president told her that his favorite magician was ‘David Cop-a-Feel’ as he squeezed her rear during a group photo.
Bush’s spokesman has explained in a statement: ‘At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures.
‘To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke — and on occasion, he has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner.
‘Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate. To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely.’
The alleged incident with Grolnick happened during a 2016 photo op with the President while she was working on the Hunchback of Notre Dame production.
New York actress Jordana Grolnick (second left) was the second woman to come forward claiming former President George H.W. Bush touched her backside. She says he also made a ‘David Cop-a-Feel’ joke when the photo was taken in 2016
Grolnick (left) made the second of such claims against the former president. Heather Lind (right) claimed on Tuesday that Bush groped her in a similar manner during a 2014 photo shoot
‘We all circled around him and Barbara for a photo, and I was right next to him,’ Grolnick told Deadspin on Wednesday.
‘He reached his right hand around to my behind, and as we smiled for the photo he asked the group, ‘Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?”
‘As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, ‘David Cop-a-Feel!”
She said that others in the room ‘laughed politely and out of discomfort,’ and that former first lady Barbara Bush ‘said something along the lines of, ‘He’s going to get himself put into jail!”
Grolnick said, ‘I just thought, ‘Whatever. He’s a dirty old man.”
The actress posted a photo to her Instagram page showing her standing next to Bush, whose hand appears to be near her rear.
George H.W. Bush’s office apologized for a second time after being accused of touching Lind from behind during this photo for AMC’s TURN: Washington’s Spies series premiere in March 2014 in Houston, Texas. Back row, L-R: actors Seth Numrich, Samuel Roukin, Ian Kahn, Heather Lind, Kevin McNally and Burn Gorman. Front row: Barbara Bush and George H.W. Bush
She wrote: ‘George H.W. Bush has a favorite magician. It’s ‘David Cop-A-Feel.’ He told us so. Barbara has no opinion on magicians. #history.’
Grolnick was the second woman to come forward after Heather Lind claimed on Tuesday that Bush groped her in a similar manner during a 2014 photo shoot.
Lind starred in AMC’s series ‘Turn: Washington’s Spies’, alleged on social media on Tuesday that the 93-year-old former president had grabbed her from behind during the photo shoot at a private screening of the series premiere in March 2014.
Her costar Kevin McNally, who was stood next to Lind in the photograph says he can confirm her claims.
‘My full support for @heatherglind for speaking out about the horrible event in Houston. All of which is true,’ tweeted the Pirates of the Caribbean star on Wednesday.