New York: Makeup artist, Jill Harth, has spoken for the first time in detail about sexual assault allegations that she levied against Donald Trump - the Republican nominee for president.

She stayed quiet for almost 20 years about the way Trump pursued her and cornered her and groped her in his daughter’s bedroom. Harth said, she stayed quiet until Trump publicly said in May that her claims were “meritless” and his daughter Ivanka gave an interview in which she said her father was “not a groper”. Harth, who feels she has been publicly branded a liar and believes her business has suffered because of her association with the allegations, decided to speak out about her experience with Trump because she wants an apology.

She mentioned in her lawsuit that Trump ‘attempted to rape’ her

In an hour-long interview at the Guardian’s New York office, Harth said she stands by her charges against Trump, which run from low-grade sexual harassment to an episode her lawyers described in the lawsuit as “attempted ‘rape’”. She recalled how Trump – who had just gone through a divorce from his first wife, Ivana, and was in a relationship with Marla Maples, who would become his second wife – pursued her. She alleged that Trump did everything in his power to force her to leave her fiance.

However, she said that she decided to forget the past but Trump recently mentioned in a media interview that the allegations were “meritless” and that she was a “liar”. Stressing that she is not looking for any gain - monetarily or politically - Harth said she only wants an apology from Trump for his actions and statements.