Natasha Stoynoff, the People reporter who wrote about being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump at in 2005, sat down for a video interview to discuss her feelings about Melania Trump.
After People published Stoynoff’s essay, Melania Trump requested a retraction from the magazine of some interesting details. In particular, the letter read, “These two are not friends and were never friends or even friendly. At the time in question, Mrs. Trump would not have even recognized Ms. Stoynoff if they had encountered one another on the street.” (Stoynoff has since produced six witnesses that said the two were friendly, and one confirmed that they had quite literally run into each other on the street and had a friendly encounter.)
Stoynoff told People’s Jess Cagle, “I always liked [Melania] from the moment I met her. I liked her very much. And I feel like she’s a woman of dignity. And I think that she deserves better than to be in a situation like this.”
When Cagle asked her if Stoynoff felt bad for Melania Trump, she paused thoughtfully and said, “That’s a hard question to answer. That’s a really hard question to answer. I don’t know if she’s the kind of woman you feel bad for. I think she’s a very strong woman, and I think she probably does exactly as she wants to do, and knows exactly what she’s doing. But I feel a solidarity with all women, including her, so I feel like I understand her, in a way.”