Former President George H.W. Bush issued an apology after an actress accused him of sexually assaulting her during a photo op four years ago.
“When I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo. He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke,” actress Heather Lind wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post reported by The Daily Mail on Tuesday.
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Lind, who stars in the Revolutionary War drama “Turn: Washington’s Spies,” was at a private screening of the series when the incident allegedly took place.
The actress claimed that the former president touched her a second time also.
“And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not again,’ ” she said, adding that his “security guard told me I shouldn’t have stood next to him for the photo.”
Lind also said in the post she was “disturbed” by a photo she saw of former President Obama shaking hands with Bush at a benefit concert to raise funds for disaster relief on Saturday night.
A spokesperson for the former president issued an apology, saying Bush did not mean to cause any harm.
“President Bush would never — under any circumstance — intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologizes if his attempt at humor offended Ms. Lind,” the spokesperson said.