{"id":89169,"date":"2017-11-13T21:46:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T01:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=89169"},"modified":"2017-11-13T22:11:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T02:11:29","slug":"sixth-woman-says-george-h-w-bush-groped-her-when-she-was-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=89169","title":{"rendered":"Sixth Woman Says George H.W. Bush Groped Her When She Was 16"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Woman Says George H.W. Bush Groped Her When She Was 16: &#8216;I Was a Child&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/players.brightcove.net\/293884104\/SJa0Thl7_default\/index.html?videoId=5644008562001\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nBy\u00a0Aric Jenkins<br \/>\nTIME.com<\/p>\n<p>Roslyn Corrigan was sixteen years old when she got a chance to meet George H.W. Bush, excited to be introduced to a former president having grown up dreaming of going into politics.<\/p>\n<p>But Corrigan was crushed by her encounter: Bush, then 79 years old, groped her buttocks at a November 2003 event in The Woodlands, Texas, office of the Central Intelligence Agency where Corrigan\u2019s father gathered with fellow intelligence officers and family members to meet Bush, Corrigan said. Corrigan is the sixth woman since Oct. 24 to accuse Bush publicly\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4998063\/george-hw-bush-jordana-grolnick\/\">of grabbing her buttocks without consent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy initial reaction was absolute horror. I was really, really confused,\u201d Corrigan told TIME, speaking publicly for the first time about the encounter. \u201cThe first thing I did was look at my mom and, while he was still standing there, I didn\u2019t say anything. What does a teenager say to the ex-president of the United States? Like, \u2018Hey dude, you shouldn\u2019t have touched me like that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_89174\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sq500-3fd157764a031d2fc4e754e6d490c8dc.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-89174\" class=\"size-full wp-image-89174\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sq500-3fd157764a031d2fc4e754e6d490c8dc.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sq500-3fd157764a031d2fc4e754e6d490c8dc.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sq500-3fd157764a031d2fc4e754e6d490c8dc-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/sq500-3fd157764a031d2fc4e754e6d490c8dc-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-89174\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roslyn Corrigan (L), former president George H.W. Bush (C) and Sari Young (R) at the November 2003 event where Corrigan says Bush groped her.<br \/>Courtesy Corrigan Family<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Corrigan said the incident happened while she was being photographed standing next to Bush.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4996794\/george-h-w-bush-heather-lind\/\">Five other women have made similar claims against Bush in recent weeks.<\/a>Seven people, including family members and friends, confirmed to TIME that they had been told about alleged groping by Bush of Corrigan prior to the other recent allegations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeorge Bush simply does not have it in his heart to knowingly cause anyone harm or distress, and he again apologizes to anyone he may have offended during a photo op,\u201d Bush spokesperson Jim McGrath said in a statement to TIME. Previously, McGrath said Bush \u201chas patted women\u2019s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner,\u201d additionally attributing the act to his diminished height after being confined to a wheelchair since 2012. Bush was standing upright in 2003 when he met Corrigan.<\/p>\n<p>Corrigan said that to this day, some of the responses she gets to her story are dismissive but she said she feels emboldened to speak out after seeing other women come forward, and hopes more will do so after hearing her account.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know, maybe it never really hit people that I was a child at the time and that goes beyond a guy being inappropriate in the workplace to a peer or somebody in his age range,\u201d she said. \u201cI was a child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Corrigan, who had heard Bush give a speech at a conference held at the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&amp;M University earlier in November 2003, asked her father, Steve A. Young, if she could leave early from her classes at The Woodlands High School and join him at the planned visit by Bush. After Bush addressed the CIA gathering, which included agency personnel and their family members, Corrigan had the opportunity to take a photograph with Bush, alongside her mother, Sari Young.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Trapani, a spokesperson for the CIA, declined multiple requests for comment regarding Young\u2019s employment and Corrigan\u2019s allegation against Bush.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as the picture was being snapped on the one-two-three he dropped his hands from my waist down to my buttocks and gave it a nice, ripe squeeze, which would account for the fact that in the photograph my mouth is hanging wide open,\u201d Corrigan said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh my goodness, what just happened?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_89176\" style=\"width: 570px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/8653067dc73c399067cb449d25b95e27.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-89176\" class=\"size-full wp-image-89176\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/8653067dc73c399067cb449d25b95e27.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/8653067dc73c399067cb449d25b95e27.jpg 560w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/8653067dc73c399067cb449d25b95e27-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/8653067dc73c399067cb449d25b95e27-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-89176\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roslyn Corrigan in 2017<br \/>Courtesy of the Corrigan Family<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Her mother, Sari, said Corrigan told her about the encounter as soon as Bush stepped away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen he left, my daughter Rozi said, \u2018He grabbed me on the rear end.\u2019 And I said, \u2018What, what?&#8217;\u201d Sari said. \u201cAnd she said, \u2018Yes, he grabbed me when they were taking the picture. He grabbed me on my butt.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Oh my god, are you kidding me?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was really, really upset \u2014 she was very upset, she was really, really mad,\u201d she added. Sari said she would have tried to take action \u201chad it been just some Joe Blow or something. I\u2019d probably chase him down and yell at him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, you know, it\u2019s the president. What are you supposed to do?\u201d she said in a Oct. 28 interview. \u201cAnd you\u2019ve got your husband\u2019s job that could be in jeopardy. I mean, you just didn\u2019t then. You should\u2014you should have always spoken up, always\u2014but we didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Within the next few days, Corrigan told her childhood friend Chelsea Wellman about the alleged groping as well, Wellman told TIME on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Yarbrough, who was married to Corrigan from 2010 until their divorce the following year, said on Oct. 27 he learned about the incident about a month after they started dating in 2005. One day, the two were going through scrapbooks at Sari\u2019s house, he said, when they flipped to a page revealing the photo with Bush. He said that Corrigan then told him about the encounter with the former president.<\/p>\n<p>Tristan Voskuhl, who went to Sam Houston State University with Corrigan, said Corrigan first told her about the incident in 2006 when they were 19 years old. Bob Unseld, a family friend, said Sari first told him of the incident in 2013. \u201cShe didn\u2019t say it just once. She told me this several times that he had done this to Rozi. It made her very mad.\u201d Paul Weins, Unseld\u2019s husband, also said he heard Sari\u2019s account of the incident in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Bush, who from January 1976 to January 1977 served as the CIA\u2019s director of Central Intelligence\u2014the former title of the agency\u2019s highest-ranking position\u2014is one of a number of prominent figures to be accused of sexual assault since news of alleged past assaults committed by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/motto.time.com\/4990970\/sexual-misconduct-allegations-harvey-weinstein\/\">Harvey Weinstein<\/a>\u00a0broke early last month.<\/p>\n<p>Actress Heather Lind was the first to openly accuse Bush of groping her while they posed for a photo during a promotional tour for her AMC series\u00a0<em>Turn: Washington\u2019s Spies\u00a0<\/em>in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe didn\u2019t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side,\u201d Lind wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n<p>On Oct. 25, New York-based actress Jordana Grolnick\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/deadspin.com\/second-woman-george-h-w-bush-groped-me-1819855977\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told Deadspin<\/a>\u00a0Bush groped her in August 2016 at a Maine theater where she was performing. She said that Bush came backstage with Barbara during the intermission of the play,\u00a0<em>The Hunchback of Notre Dame<\/em>, and gathered with the cast for a photo.<\/p>\n<p>On Oct. 26, best-selling author Christina Baker Kline\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/double_x\/doublex\/2017\/10\/george_h_w_bush_groped_me_during_a_2014_photo_op.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote in Slate<\/a>\u00a0that Bush groped her during an April 2014 photo op at a Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy fundraiser in Houston.<\/p>\n<p>Amanda Staples, a former Maine Senate candidate said in a private Instagram post on Oct. 26 that Bush groped her in 2006, the Portland<em>\u00a0Press Herald<\/em>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>Liz Allen, a retired Erie\u00a0<em>Times-News<\/em>\u00a0journalist, said in an Oct. 26\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/fortune500\/facebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0post that Bush touched her from behind at a local business association event while taking a photograph with the former president in Erie, Pa. in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>Bush\u2019s spokesperson, McGrath, declined a separate request from TIME to comment on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/fortune500\/staples\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Staples<\/a>\u00a0and Allen\u2019s allegations, which they said occurred when the former president was standing up.<\/p>\n<p>Corrigan said that Bush\u2019s response to Lind and Grolnick\u2019s allegations, which cited his use of a wheelchair, bothers her because the \u201cexcuse for his senile, old man antics\u2026 is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said that recently, she was listening to an episode of a podcast hosted by Ben Shapiro called\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/podcasts\/22782\/ep-404-everything-sexual-assault-now\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cIs Everything Sexual Assault Now?\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Allegations against Bush were discussed on the show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I heard that was the reason, like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s just an old man and he doesn\u2019t know any better and he\u2019s just being harmless and playful and it\u2019s just where his arm falls\u2026 I just burst into uncontrollable sobbing,\u201d Corrigan said. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t sit with that. I can\u2019t. I cannot sit with that. I can\u2019t sleep anymore, because that\u2019s not true, and it\u2019s not an excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 1, former first lady Laura Bush, wife of George W. Bush,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/11\/01\/politics\/laura-bush-ghani-cnntv\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told CNN<\/a>\u00a0that the alleged incidents against her father-in-law were \u201cvery innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just sad that we\u2019ve come to this,\u201d Laura Bush told the network. \u201cThat was something that was very, very innocent that he\u2019s been accused of. But I know he would feel terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Corrigan said she doesn\u2019t see it that way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt completely floored me. I was actually there to be taken seriously, and I wasn\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought, he\u2019s a career politician, almost 80 years old or something like that, if anybody\u2019s going to take me a little bit seriously or at least try to pretend he\u2019s interested in what I have to say, it would be this guy. And he didn\u2019t. All he did was grab my butt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/5019182\/george-hw-bush-groping-allegation\/\">http:\/\/time.com\/5019182\/george-hw-bush-groping-allegation\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Woman Says George H.W. Bush Groped Her When She Was 16: &#8216;I Was a Child&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}