Former Trump Employee: I ‘Absolutely’ Believe Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Barbara Res, a construction executive who worked for Donald Trump for 18 years, told CNN on Thursday morning that based on her observations of Trump throughout her time working for him, she believes the sexual misconduct accusations against Trump that surfaced this week.

“I do believe it. Yes, absolutely,” she said on CNN’s “New Day,” when asked if she believes the allegations.

Res said she “saw him be aggressive in business, and I saw him throw his weight around and use the fact that he had power.”

“And I think assault —sexual assault and sexual harassment are really about the abuse of power — ‘I can do this to you because I am who I am.’ And I do think it went to his head. So much else went to his head that it does make sense to me that he would do something like that.”

She said that she had a largely positive experience with Trump and that he treated her like a man for the most part. But she said that Trump gradually became more sexist and recounted one experience when Trump leered at her.

“I worked for him a while ago, and when we started out he was respectful of women,” Res told CNN. “He respected and listened to us, and I never saw him comport himself in such a way that, you know, you would turn around and say, that was sexist.”

But Res said that eventually, Trump “started asking about women in a different way.”

“He would say, you know, ‘This woman is very hot and she really wants me,’ and that kind of thing,” she said on CNN.

She recalled one “shocking” meeting with Trump and an architect.

“Out of nowhere, he starts talking about the women in Marina Del Rey, and how they’re not like the women in Beverly Hills, they have to work harder so their bodies — he described their bodies as being tighter and stuff like that. The architect and I looked at each other and we didn’t know where this came from,” Res said on CNN. “At the time, I thought, he is having this breakdown because his empire is falling apart and maybe, you know, it’s just a temporary thing. But, obviously, it got worse.”

She said that at the time, some sexist comments did not resonate with her because she was used to sexism in the construction business.

“I was in construction. That’s such a sexist business. A lot of stuff went right past me. I didn’t think about it. I spoke to some women that worked there at the time and I was reminded of things that he did and the way he looked at women,” she said.

“He did leer at women, no question about it. He even leered at me once at a black-tie dinner. I wore this low-cut dress and he was you know, staring down at me,” Res continued. “And you know, I took it in my stride. I didn’t say, ‘oh, my god, he’s doing this.’ It was just, well, he never saw me like this. I was always in construction clothes or business clothes. And I just took it in my stride.”

She now believes that he is a “blatant sexist.”

Watch the interview via CNN: