Thirty-one years after Stacey Williams says she was groped by Donald Trump while Jeffrey Epstein watched, the 56-year-old writer, consultant and former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model went public with her accusation this week.

Williams, 56, told her story Monday night during a “Survivors for Kamala” Zoom call that was open to the public and where organizers said hundreds of people had joined. It featured a range of women discussing their experiences with sexual violence, including actor Ashley Judd and Tarana Burke, who started the #MeToo movement.

Williams, a registered Democrat who attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention and has been involved with liberal causes in the past, said on the Zoom call that her decision to come forward was partly related to the elections.

“I felt it was time to share this, and I am ready to win this election,” Williams said on the Zoom call. “The thought of that monster being back in the White House is my absolute worst nightmare.”

In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Williams said her decision to come forward was not made in consultation with the Democratic Party. When asked if she had had any communications with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, she replied: “None.”

Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt flatly denied Williams’ allegations in a statement. “These allegations, made by a former Barack Obama activist and announced during a Harris Campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false,” the statement said in part.

NBC News spoke to seven people who said they discussed the allegations with Williams from 2006 to 2022. They all said they found Williams and her claim credible and consistent. Her claim was first published in The Guardian and first broadcast by CNN.

Williams appears to be the first person to publicly accuse Trump of sexual misconduct in which Epstein played a role. None of the dozens of women close to Epstein that NBC News has interviewed over the past seven years have accused Trump of misconduct involving Epstein.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a state charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served time in prison in Florida. He died by suicide in 2019 in a federal prison in Manhattan while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors.

“I feel very comfortable and ready to tell,” Williams told NBC News, “and then I can handle the reaction.”

A visit to Trump Tower

Williams said she first met Epstein at a dinner in 1992 and they started spending time together when they were both in town. She said Epstein was not her boyfriend and that the relationship was never sexual.

Her and Epstein attended a Christmas party that year at the Plaza Hotel – which Trump owned at the time. She recalled seeing Trump at the party and said it was clear the two men were friends.

Later, in the “later winter, early spring” of 1993, Williams recalled, she was walking with Epstein near Fifth Avenue when he suggested she visit Trump at Trump Tower. It was a sunny day, she recalled, and she was not wearing a jacket, she told NBC News.

She said during the Zoom call: “We went to Trump Tower and took the elevator, and a little while later Trump greeted us.”

Within moments of meeting him, Trump “pulled me close and started groping me.” He put his hands over my breasts, my waist, my buttocks and I froze,” Williams said during the Zoom call, her voice appearing to crack as she described being touched. “And I froze because I was so deeply confused about what was happening, because the hands were moving over me.”

Williams said that as Trump groped her, the two men spoke calmly.

“These two men smiled at each other and continued their conversation,” she said.

Williams told NBC News that the two men talked about her “as an object.” She said they focused on her appearance and her appearances in Sports Illustrated in a conversation she said was “dirty.” She said the entire incident lasted five to 10 minutes and took place in a reception area outside Trump’s office.

Williams said that after the meeting, when she and Epstein were back on the street, Epstein became enraged and began “berating” her with questions. “Why did you let him do that?” he asked, according to Williams. The fact that Epstein blamed her disoriented her, Williams said.

“He made me feel disgusting and I remember being so completely confused at that moment,” Williams recalls. “I felt so humiliated, so sick and so upset.”

She added, “I was someone who really took pride in being one of the badass models that was kind of problematic because I was fighting back against the predators of the industry.”

“And then the next, probably the next, sensation that I remember was just shame and embarrassment,” she said. “I had allowed something to happen that I could have stopped.”

Williams and Epstein never discussed the incident again, she said. Williams was deeply disturbed and broke off contact with Epstein shortly afterwards. She said she was unaware that Epstein had abused young women and broken the law until media reports about him emerged.

Days after the incident, a postcard arrived at her modeling agency addressed to her, Williams recalled. The front showed Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and the back appeared to have a handwritten message from him. Williams said she still has the postcard and has shared photos with NBC News.

“Stacey, your home away from home, Love Donald” was written on the back, in a handwriting similar to Trump’s. The postcard is not stamped or dated.

“I was very ashamed and blamed myself for it. And that made me not want to talk about it,” Williams said.

She added that she had never considered reporting the allegations to police. She said she never met Trump again.

NBC News spoke to seven people who said Williams had previously told them about the alleged meeting with Trump, most of whom requested anonymity. Six were old friends and acquaintances. The first was told in 2006, another was told before Trump was a presidential candidate, and the most recent was told in 2022.

Ally Gutwillinger, a friend, said Williams told her the week after Trump announced his 2015 presidential campaign that she had been groped by Trump in Epstein’s presence.

“I remember it clearly. I was in her house,” Gutwillinger told NBC News. “I saw the postcard from Mar-a-Lago there. And she told me to turn it around. And it said, ‘Stacey, your home away from home. I love Donald. ”

Williams’ claim that Epstein introduced her to Trump echoes other women’s descriptions of Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, introducing women to individuals who sexually abused them in some way.

Deciding to speak out

Two years ago, Williams was interviewed for a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition film, “Beyond the Gaze.” At one point she said on camera that she was groped by a former president in Epstein’s presence, but she did not mention Trump. A few weeks ago she heard that the film would be shown at the Woodstock Film Festival earlier this month.

Williams told NBC News that she felt it was important that she provide more context about what happened since the film’s premiere came within weeks of the election.

“If this is to go to market, I need to tell my story and I feel ready,” she said.

Through a friend, she was connected to the “Survivors for Kamala” call, a coalition of groups and individuals united in support of Harris.

Trump has faced allegations of sexual misconduct from numerous women in recent years, including former columnist E. Jean Carroll. Last year, a jury in New York found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, but not for her alleged rape. He continues to deny all allegations of sexual misconduct.

The latest allegation against Trump comes less than two weeks before Election Day and early voting has already begun in several states.

In a 2005 video that became known as the “Access Hollywood” tape after it became public in 2016, and was released just weeks before that year’s election, Trump can be heard saying, “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women – I just start kissing. them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And if you’re a star, they let you do that. You can do anything, he said, including “grabbing them by the p…”.

Williams said that over time she slowly became more comfortable telling her story.

“He harmed me,” Williams told NBC News. “Sexual violence is harmful. It damages people.”