Image Source: Getty / Alex Wong [1]
Update: Attorney Lisa Bloom said that her client was too scared to talk and called off the planned press conference, according to several reports.
Lisa Bloom: Jane Doe has received numerous threats today... She has decided she is too afraid to show her face.
— Irin Carmon (@irin) November 2, 2016 [2]
"We're going to have to reschedule. I apologize to all of you who came. I have nothing further." @LisaBloom [3] press conference is off.
— Irin Carmon (@irin) November 2, 2016 [4]
Lisa Bloom just said her client was "living in fear" and did not want to show her face and ended the press conference.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 2, 2016 [5]
Original story: On Sept. 30, an anonymous woman filed a lawsuit [6] against Donald Trump accusing him of rape, sexual abuse, battery, and false imprisonment, among other charges. She alleges that the rape took place in New York in 1994, when she was 13 years old. Though she had filed the lawsuit under a pseudonym, Jane Doe, she is now coming out of anonymity and will share her story today, Wednesday, during a 3 p.m. PDT conference.
According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe was promised money and modeling jobs in exchange for attending a few parties at Jeffrey Epstein's home. Epstein is a billionaire who, in 2008, served 13 months of an 18-month sentence [7] after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from several minors. He is now a registered sex offender [8]. Jane Doe said that at four of those parties at Epstein's home, Trump initiated sexual contact with her and then raped her at the fourth and final party she attended.
Though the statute of limitations has passed, her attorneys have argued that she has been under emotional duress [9] since the attack and has since incurred damages, like medical and legal expenses. Trump will face a court date with a judge on Dec. 16.
On Wednesday, the Bloom Firm — the legal firm representing Jane Doe — released a press statement saying she will be speaking publicly for the first time. The statement from attorney Lisa Bloom (Gloria Allred's daughter) said, "More than four months ago a woman using the pseudonym 'Jane Doe' sued Donald Trump for a series of sexual assaults that she alleges occurred at parties in New York in 1994," later adding, "Jane Doe will break her silence today and speak out about her allegations at the following place and time."
A press conference is set to take place at the Bloom Firm offices in Los Angeles at 3 p.m. PDT.
BREAKING: woman who sued Donald Trump for child rape breaks her silence today. https://t.co/ecbzZ6jxSU [10] pic.twitter.com/kdCRsG7wIm [11]
— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) November 2, 2016 [12]