Another Woman Claims George HW Bush Groped Her When She Was 16

Roslyn Corrigan said as the photo was being taken, Bush dropped his hand to her buttocks and squeezed.

Former US President George HW Bush.

(Photo: Reuters)

Another woman has stepped forward to accuse former United States President George HW Bush of inappropriately touching her.

Roslyn Corrigan told TIME magazine that she posed for a photo with Bush in 2003 at a gathering of CIA officers north of Houston. She was 16 at the time and attended the event with her mother and father, who was an intelligence analyst.

Corrigan said as the photo was being taken, Bush dropped his hand to her buttocks and squeezed. TIME spoke with seven people who said they had been told by Corrigan about the encounter in the years afterward.

A spokesman for the former president, Jim McGrath, says Bush has apologised "to anyone he may have offended during a photo op."

Corrigan is at least the fifth woman to claim Bush groped her.

Previous Accusations

Earlier, Bush (senior) tendered an apology for ‘causing distress’ to two women who accused him of groping them. Author Christina Baker Kline also said the 93-year-old former president made the same lewd comment others had mentioned (about his favourite magician being ‘David Cop-a-Feel’) before assaulting her in the same fashion – by grabbing her buttocks – in Houston in 2014.

She even said Mr Bush’s chauffeur told her he hoped she would be “discreet” about it.

Amanda Staples, a former candidate for state Senate, told the Portland Press Herald in Maine that she too was groped by the senior Bush in 2006.

American actress Heather Lind had earlier accused George Bush Senior of “sexual assault”, in response to which he had issued this statement circulated to Daily Mail:

President Bush would never – under any circumstance – intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologises if his attempt at humour offended Ms Lind.

Lind had claimed that former US President George HW Bush “sexually assaulted” her from his wheelchair during the screening of a television show, a media report said on 24 October.

The 34-year-old actress, who starred in ‘Turn: Washington's Spies’, a war-era drama, detailed her accusations in a lengthy Instagram post on 24 October.

Lind said she was “disturbed” after seeing a photo of ex-US President Barack Obama with the 93-year-old Bush, the 41st American president, the Daily News reported.

I found it disturbing because I recognise the respect ex-presidents are given for having served. And I feel pride and reverence toward many of the men in the photo. But when I got the chance to meet George HW Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo.

Lind’s post

“He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not again’. His security guard told me I shouldn’t have stood next to him for the photo,” she added.

Lind had met Bush during a special screening of the show in 2014, a week before its premiere.

“We were instructed to call him Mr President. It seems to me a President's power is in his or her capacity to enact positive change, actually help people, and serve as a symbol of our democracy. He relinquished that power when he used it against me and, judging from the comments of those around him, countless other women before me,” Lind wrote.

Lind said she decided to come forward because of “the bravery of other women who have spoken up and written about their experiences,” the report said.

(Also Read: New York Opens Sexual Harassment Probe Against Harvey Weinstein)

(With inputs from AP)