Trudeau Accuser Speaks Up About 'the Incident'

A former journalist has stepped forward and said yes, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did grope her at a fund-raising event 18 years ago, the CBC reports. "I issue this statement reluctantly, in response to mounting media pressure to confirm that I was the reporter" described in an unsigned newspaper editorial, says Rose Knight in a statement. "The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr. Trudeau did apologize the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further. I have had no subsequent contact with Mr. Trudeau, before or after he became Prime Minister."

Appearing in the Creston Valley Advance, the editorial accused Trudeau of "groping" and "inappropriately" handling a young reporter on assignment and said she had felt "blatantly disrespected." Trudeau was quoted as apologizing the next day and saying, "If I had known you were reporting for a national paper I never would have been so forward." In Calgary to attend a Saturday event with lawmaker Kent Hehr—whose alleged inappropriate actions with women cost him a cabinet post—Trudeau issued an updated statement, the Toronto Star reports: "I'm confident that I did not act inappropriately but I think the essence of this is that people can experience interactions differently," he said. (Read more Justin Trudeau stories.)