The following story is based on court documents and allegations made by two women, under the pseudonyms “Katie Johnson” and “Tiffany Doe.” Everything depicted here is an allegation and cannot be corroborated.
Please be aware, there are intense trigger warnings for sexual abuse of a minor in this article.
On April 26, 2016 a woman under the pseudonym “Katie Johnson” came forward to file an official complaint, declaring that both Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein had forcibly raped her and other girls her age on at least four separate occasions during the summer of 1994.
Before I dive into this case, I’d like to step back and talk about why women often either don’t report or wait until significant moments in time to say something. I think of Christine Blasey Ford, who testified about her assault at the hands of now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. A psychology professor at Palo Alto University, Ford never wanted to come forward to talk about what happened to her in high school. At the time, I was working with a film crew who extensively documented stories about the #MeToo movement, and I had the opportunity to hear a lot of off-the-record conversations from women assaulted by men like Brett Kavanaugh, including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, and other big names in Hollywood and Washington D.C. Christine Blasey Ford was one of those interviews, which was also mostly off-the-record. I remember the sound of her voice, small and very quiet, terrified, unassuming, and certainly not looking for attention. But when her attacker ran for the Supreme Court, a position where he’d be making decisions about other rapists and attackers in large public forums, she struggled to sleep and even function on a day-to-day level. She couldn’t forget about what happened to her, and it started to affect her family life and her job. She spoke with her husband, and together they decided that despite the inevitable backlash, she should come forward. It is very important to note that Ford sought no financial compensation for her testimony and passed a polygraph test. Afterwards she received death threats and, if I remember correctly, she and her family had to move temporarily for their safety.
Stories like Christine Blasey Ford are not uncommon, especially in circles of power, but we often hear the women discredited, or their cases dismissed, or see stories about them in the news where their attackers are given a platform to speak, while they’re represented as sexually deviant and emotional. And inevitably the women disappear off the map while the men go on to climb the ladder.
I think of Dylan Farrow, whose op-ed about her father was refused by the New York Times and printed in Nicholas Kristof’s blog. Whereas her attacker, her father Woody Allen, was given an almost 2000-word rebuttal in the Sunday Opinion Section less than a week later. Like Ford, Farrow didn’t seek financial compensation. Woody Allen went on to make seven more films, grossing over $80 million. Dylan Farrow lives a quiet life with her family in Connecticut, and works as an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse.
But Katie Johnson didn’t have support in the world of journalism, or maybe even at home, though she’s remained anonymous in the years since. But when it was her turn to step out from the shadows, the story itself was devastating.
Katie, later referred to as “Jane Doe” in subsequent court documents, arrived in New York City at the tender age of 13, at the Port Authority bus terminal just south of Times Square. No one knows how she got there or who, if anyone, she came with, but she, like so many girls before her, had dreams of becoming a model. Whether on her own or with an adult, she found her way to most of the major modeling agencies, all of which turned her away because she didn’t have a portfolio filled with professional photos. Disappointed, she found her way back to the Port Authority and bought a ticket home. But just before she was set to leave, a woman named “Tiffany” (pseudonym) approached her and introduced herself. She was young, though older than Katie, and said she knew a thing or two about modeling, and could introduce Katie to her contacts at big parties around town. She even offered to pay the young girl just for going. So Katie went.
Katie accompanied Tiffany back to a big house called “Wexner’s Mansion” on the Upper East Side just a block from the park, with tall oak doors and a butler. She’d never seen anything like it. Inside, a party was already in full swing, filled with lots of other girls around her age, and hosted by an older man with gray hair. She quickly warmed to the girls, the house, Tiffany, and the host, and began coming back to spend more time there. Katie and Tiffany would attend lots of parties there, but at four in particular the host, Mr. Epstein, brought his friend, Mr. Trump, a prominent local real estate guy who made Katie uncomfortable.
It was never a secret that Katie was only 13 years old. After all, most of the girls were around her age, and some even younger, so she never worried about it. But when Mr. Trump began approaching Katie and asking her to do sexual things, she wondered why. At the first three parties he told her to do things to him that made her feel embarrassed, but she knew Mr. Epstein, who stood close by, was paying her good money to keep his guests happy. He watched, and she did what Mr. Trump asked. Then she was told to take off her clothes and massage both men until they reached sexual orgasm. On one occasion Mr. Trump used two girls, Katie and a little girl named Maria, who was only 12, to perform oral sex on him, “forcing them to orally copulate [Trump] by placing their mouths simultaneously on his erect penis until he achieved sexual orgasm.”
“After zipping up his pants, Defendant Trump physically pushed both minors away while angrily berating them for the ‘poor’ quality of their sexual performance.” - U.S. District Court, Katie Johnson v. Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
Tiffany stood in the wings, witnessing everything Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein told Katie to do. It was something she’d grown used to, sort of, a revolving door of young girls who arrived for help with their modeling careers, and who left with neither a career nor their childhoods. But it was that fourth encounter with Mr. Trump that she had trouble keeping her mouth closed. She watched as he tied Katie to the bed, exposed himself, then forcibly raped and sodomized the poor little girl. Katie pleaded with him to stop, crying and begging him to “please wear a condom.” He hit her across the face, screaming that he’d do whatever he wanted. When Trump was done, Mr. Epstein stepped in, again raping and sodomizing the child, who again cried and begged him to stop. He, too, attempted to hit her, angry because Mr. Trump had been the first to take Katie’s virginity, or in his words, “pop the cherry.” Trump called Epstein as a “Jew bastard.” The little girl cried, wondering what would happen if she got pregnant, and Trump “grabbed his wallet and threw some money at her and screamed that she should use the money ‘to get a fucking abortion’.”
When they finished, both men threatened the little girl, promising to harm her and her family, “if not kill” them all. Both men touted their wealth and power, and Mr. Trump, again, threatened that if Katie were to say anything, she would “disappear like Maria,” the other little girl. Katie hadn’t seen her since that day, and was sure he’d done something to her. But she’d never find out.
Tiffany witnessed everything and corroborated Katie’s statements about the abuse and the things the men said. She would eventually quit working for Jeffrey Epstein, but not for another six years. She received death threats, as well, from Epstein, who demanded to know what she saw and heard, telling her “knowledge is king” in the world of finance. He didn’t care for her sake, but wanted to know if she had insider information to further benefit him financially, something he did often with the little girls he brought into his home.
It isn’t known when Katie was able to get away back to some semblance of normalcy. But she handled it somehow, avoiding television coverage of Donald Trump for many years until he began campaigning for President in 2015. Then the trauma boiled up again, becoming unbearable, and she filed a complaint through the State of California. Soon after, Trump gave a statement on RadarOnline, an entertainment and gossip website, and Katie began receiving death threats.
“The allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated. There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.” - Donald Trump, RadarOnline
Katie Johnson filed an official complaint on June 20, 2016, now under the pseudonym “Jane Doe,” asking for a jury trial in a case alleging rape, sexual misconduct, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, battery, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress, duress, false imprisonment, and defamation. She withdrew this complaint in September and refiled, citing more affidavits from Tiffany Doe, Jane Doe, and Joan Doe, Jane’s childhood classmate, who knew of the abuse during the 1994-1995 school year. Katie was represented by attorney and civil rights leader, Lisa Bloom, daughter of prominent feminist attorney and activist, Gloria Allred.
Katie suddenly dismissed her case without prejudice--meaning it can be refiled--just four days before the 2016 presidential election, due to “multiple threats” making her too frightened to proceed, according to Lisa Bloom. Katie had planned to release her identity at a press conference, but cancelled the event just prior to dismissing the case. There were rumors of extortion attempts in the works linked to Norm Lubow, a former Jerry Springer producer, and publicist “Al Taylor” (pseudonym), though these were never corroborated.
Since 2016, Katie Johnson, aka “Jane Doe,” has not spoken publicly or revealed her identity. In 2019, another woman, journalist E. Jean Carroll, accused Donald Trump of raping her in a bathroom at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. She sued him in 2022 for battery and defamation, and he was found liable to the tune of $83.3 million. Three years later he still denies the allegations and has not paid Carroll.
Katie Johnson v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, April 2016
Jane Doe v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, June 2016
Jane Doe v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, September 2016
Ellie is an author, editor, and owner of Red Pencil Transcripts, and works with filmmakers, podcasts, and journalists all over the world. She lives with her family just outside of New York City.
I was assaulted by a sixteen year old when I was eleven. He couldn’t fit inside me cause I was a tiny little thing so he became angry and hit me a few times. I managed to run away and hid in a tree. That was 1981. Earlier that summer, I had stayed with a coworker of my mother’s who needed help with her toddler and bratty six year old son. Her husband took a shine to me and she noticed. It was hard to miss. I was so uncomfortable and was so relieved when she told me to go home. He had managed to slip his hand into my shorts a few times but that was it. I was scared frozen. Then, my basketball coach tried to kiss me when I was 12. I’ve been fully raped twice. Once at 23 in 1993, then at 48, in 2018. I’m leaving out so many other assaults and harassments that I’ve endured, and even at FIFTY FUCKING FIVE, still endure.
Watching a rapist become president of this country, which I love, had tore me to pieces but watching him do it again has broken me. No one wants to listen to women. I saw maga women wearing t-shirts that proudly claimed, “I’m with the sexual assaulted”.
This country is so fucked.
My heart breaks for her and all the victims.