Statement of Jill Harth to The Hill

Jill Harth’s statement to The Hill concerning her efforts to get Donald Trump to hire her as a makeup artist and pitch her cosmetics products at the start of the 2016 race before her sexual assault allegations against him emerged during the campaign. 

“The Hill’s malicious attempt to malign me because I came out in support of Lisa Bloom is reprehensible.

 “The Hill has insisted I explain how I could accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault, sexual harassment and attempted rape in a 1997 federal lawsuit, then send him an email volunteering to do his makeup during the 2016 election campaign. Well, a couple years of therapy helped me deal with Trump’s sexual attacks and the mind games he had played on me for more than a year and move on with my life. In 2015 I was very excited about a new men’s cosmetic product line that I had developed and needed a prominent spokesperson. And after discussions with my business associate she thought Donald Trump would be ideal. I called Trump’s executive assistant who asked me to put everything in writing by email with a formal proposal for Trump. 

“The email was the first such contact with Trump in a long while and our relationship was still cordial even though I realized that I would be dealing with someone who acted like a ‘dog in heat’ then, who had ruined my marriage and had continued pursuing me through the years. Yes, I had moved on but had not forgotten the pain he brought into my life. I was older, wiser. Trump was married to Melania and I had hoped he was a changed man.   

“I got no response so I abandoned the effort until I saw him on TV at a rally looking worse than ever. He looked like a clown with an orange face and white circles around his eyes. So, I sent another email volunteering to do his makeup for free. Still no response. 

“It was all academic after Trump announced his run for President. Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen tried to get me to disavow the 1997 complaint when it resurfaced during the campaign. When I refused the threats and disparagement began with Trump calling me a liar. My last contact with Donald Trump was at a rally and the tickets were obtained by a friend. Trump’s defense against the complaint’s allegations was to send the media copies of my emails asking Trump to be the spokesperson for my new cosmetic line. The flattering nature of the emails were necessary to satisfy Trump’s ‘huge’ ego. 

“Moreover, there are other women casualties of Trump’s sexually aggressive behavior that I knew about, including a then 20-something young contestant in the American Dream Calendar Girl competition mentioned in my 1997 complaint, who had just had a cosmetic surgery procedure and was sleeping in a bedroom at Mar-a-Lago when she was accosted by Trump in her bed, after Trump gained entry to her room through the club’s secret passageways. She was terrified and brought it to my attention then. 

“I firmly believe Trump should resign or be investigated and impeached. Leopards don’t change their spots.  

“The Hill’s blatant attempt at Fake News fails miserably and exposes it as an apologist for Trump and a rag for right-wing hit jobs.”

The Hill’s response: The story The Hill ran was not in retaliation for any article involving Lisa Bloom. Harth herself alerted The Hill to the existence of emails showing her effort to win business from President Trump at the start of the 2016 presidential campaign and she encouraged our reporter to obtain those emails, which we did. Our story is a factually accurate recounting of Harth’s contemporaneous emails, which she alerted us to and authenticated for us.