Another woman has come forward accusing former President George HW Bush of groping her during a fundraiser in Michigan in 1992, when he was in his late 60s and running for his second term.
The latest accuser, who wished to remain unnamed, told CNN this week she was attending the event organized by Bush’s re-election campaign in Dearborn, Michigan, in April 1992 when the president of the United Stated grabbed her buttocks while they posed for a photo together.
‘We got closer together for a family photo and it was like “Holy crap!”’ she told the news network. ‘It was like a gentle squeeze.’
Accused again: Another woman has come forward accusing former President George HW Bush (pictured on November 5 at a football game between the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans) of grabbing her buttocks in April 1992
The accuser (not pictured) was attending a re-election fundraiser in Michigan in April 1992 with her father when Bush offered to pose for a picture with them. Pictured: Bush campaigning in Miami with his grandson
In the photo obtained exclusively by CNN, Bush is pictured standing between the woman and her father. All three are shown smiling for the camera.
The woman, now aged 55, said that at the time she told herself Bush must have touched her by accident as they were moving in closer together for the photo-op.
But after learning over the past month that at least seven other women have had similar experiences with Bush from 2003 to as recently as 2016, the Michigan resident said she has reevaluated her encounter with the former president.
‘All the focus has been on “He’s old.” OK, but he wasn’t old when it happened to me,’ she told CNN. ‘I’ve been debating what to do about it.’
Following that fateful fundraiser in Dearborn, the woman said she confided in her then-husband and her best friend about what happened, and both confirmed her account to CNN.
The unnamed woman is the first person to accuse Bush of inappropriate behavior while he still occupied the White House.
Bush lost his re-election bid in November 1992 and was succeeded by Bill Clinton.
To date, at least eight women have accused the 93-year-old former president of groping, among them actresses, a best-selling author, a political candidate and a woman who was just 16 years old at the time of the alleged incident.
The encounters occurred in three states over a decade. In all of the cases, the women say Bush touched their buttocks as they stood next to him to take photos. All three states have laws against touching someone without their consent.
The women’s stories broadly follow the same outline: Bush patted them below the waist as they stood next to him to take photos, sometimes with a joke about his favorite magician or writer being named ‘David Cop-a-Feel.’
Bush has issued repeated apologies through a spokesman ‘to anyone he has offended.’ The spokesman, Jim McGrath, said in a statement last month that Bush has used a wheelchair for roughly five years, and that ‘his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures.’
In a statement Monday, McGrath said, ‘George Bush simply does not have it in his heart to knowingly cause anyone distress, and he again apologizes to anyone he offended during a photo op.’
McGrath did not publicly comment on the latest allegation made by the Michigan woman.
Actress Heather Lind was the first to accuse Bush of groping her, saying in an October 24 Instagram post that Bush ‘touched me from behind’ and told ‘a dirty joke” while they posed for a photo at a Houston screening of the AMC television series Turn.
Seven more women have come forward since then, including Roslyn Corrigan, who told Time magazine Monday that Bush groped her as they took a photo in 2003, when Corrigan was 16, during an event in The Woodlands, a Houston suburb.
Broadway actress Megan Elizabeth Lewis also told NJ.com that Bush groped her at the performance of a musical in Houston in 2009.
Four of the incidents are reported to have occurred in Texas, where touching someone’s buttocks over the person’s clothing is classified as a misdemeanor assault charge, with only a $500 fine and no jail time.
In Maine, where Bush is accused of grabbing two women, those allegations could give rise to a charge of assault or unlawful sexual touching, punishable by up to a year in jail, said Walt McKee, a defense attorney in Augusta, Maine.
And in Pennsylvania, where a retired newspaper journalist has accused Bush of touching her during an event in Erie, the state’s law against indecent assault could apply, said Richard Settgast, an adjunct law professor at Penn State University.
Roslyn Corrigan alleges that Bush, then 79 years old, groped her buttocks while taking the photograph above during a November 2003 event in The Woodlands, Texas, office of the Central Intelligence Agency. Her mother, Sari Young is pictured above right
There’s no indication prosecutors are planning to pursue a case against Bush.
Jordana Grolnick, an actress who alleged that Bush groped her behind last year as his wife, Barbara, stood nearby, told The Associated Press that she has no plans to report the 41st president to authorities. That appears to be the only incident that hasn’t reached the local statute of limitations on how long a crime can be prosecuted after it occurs.
Bush, who served as president from 1989 to 1993, is a beloved figure in both Texas and Maine, the two states where he lives. Two days after the first woman accused Bush of misconduct, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted that Bush was ‘a statesman and role model to me.’
Days later, Bush joined his son, former President George W. Bush, on the field before Game 5 of baseball’s World Series to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.