A high-profile weekend anchor at KTLA was notably absent from the air Saturday and Sunday after the New York Daily News featured an excerpt from her new book that claims that prior to becoming the president, Donald Trump once propositioned her.
Former Fox News reporter Courtney Friel was scheduled for a vacation around her book tour beginning Monday, her publicist told TheWrap, but she did not appear for any of her regular weekend shifts on Saturday or Sunday.
Her camp isn’t responding beyond its initial statement, but according to the Daily Beast, Friel told a paparazzo on Saturday that he would need to ask KTLA about her absence from the air that day, then expressed her desire not to be fired.
“I love my job,” she said, according to the Daily Beast.
KTLA did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The Daily News published excerpts from Friel’s new memoir “Tonight at 10: Kicking Booze and Breaking News” detailing a provocative conversation she had with Trump while she was working for Fox News. Friel said Trump called her and told her she was “the hottest one at Fox News,” then, “out of nowhere,” suggested she come to his office so they could “kiss.”
She added, according to the Daily News, that she hung up after reminding him they were both married. At the time, the real estate mogul and reality TV star was married to his current wife, Melania Trump. (A reporter for People magazine has also claimed Trump came onto her while he was married to the now-first lady, a charge he has denied.)
According to the Daily News, Friel writes in her memoir, “This proposition made it difficult for me to report with a straight face on Trump running for president. It infuriated me that he would call all the women who shared stories of his bold advances liars. I totally believe them.”
11 Women Who Accuse Donald Trump of Sleaziness - or Much Worse (Photos)
Several women have accused Donald Trump of lewd behavior since the Washington Post reported that he bragged to Billy Bush on a hot mic in 2005 that he kisses and gropes women. Trump has called the comments "locker room talk" and denied assaulting women.
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1997 Miss Utah Temple Taggart told NBC News that Trump kissed her on the lips upon their first meeting. Trump denies it.
Former Miss Vermont Teen USA Mariah Billado told BuzzFeed that Trump walked in on her changing. “I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here,'” she said. Trump bragged to Howard Stern that as a pageant owner, he can "sort of get away" with walking in on women: "You know, I'm inspecting because I want to make sure that everything is good."
Jill Harth sued Trump in 1997, alleging sexual harassment. The suit says that while negotiating a business deal, Trump told Harth’s boyfriend, “You know, there’s going to be a problem … I’m very attracted to your girlfriend.”
Harth withdrew her suit as part of a settlement, according to the New York Times.
Former Miss Arizona Tasha Dixon told CBS2 Los Angeles that Trump would go backstage at the Miss USA pageant while the contestants were changing clothes.
“He just came strolling right in,” Dixon said. “There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.”
In the taped conversation with Billy Bush, Trump talked about how he "moved on" the married Nancy O’Dell "very heavily," and admitted that he tried to "f--- her." O'Dell responded: "No female, no person, should be the subject of such crass comments."
On the tape, Billy Bush encourages Arianna Zucker to embrace Trump after Trump has told Bush that he might start kissing her -- unbeknownst to Zucker. When the tape was released, she said she wasn't especially surprised -- "not with that type of personality."
Jessica Leeds told the New York Times that Trump groped her on a plane more than 30 years ago. “He was like an octopus,” Leeds, now 74, told the paper. “His hands were everywhere."
Kristin Anderson told the The Washington Post that she was sitting on a couch with friends at a New York City nightclub in the early ’90s when she suddenly felt someone’s hand reaching up her skirt and touching her through her underwear. After shoving the hand away, she fled the couch and turned to take her first good look at the man who had touched her: It was Trump.
Rachel Crooks, 33, said she was working as a receptionist at a company housed in Trump Tower in 2005 when she met Trump -- who allegedly shook her hand, would not let go, and “kissed me directly on the mouth.”
People Magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff says Donald Trump physically attacked her around the time of his comments to Billy Bush in 2005, and that he forced himself on her in the same way he described in that conversation. His campaign denies it ever happened.
Former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos claimed Trump kissed her against her will and came on to her. Zervos recounted a an alleged encounter with Trump at the Beverly Hills Hotel, during which she said Trump kissed her “very aggressively,” placed his hand on her breast and thrust his genitals.
Allegations range from kissing strangers to walking in on naked pageant contestants
Several women have accused Donald Trump of lewd behavior since the Washington Post reported that he bragged to Billy Bush on a hot mic in 2005 that he kisses and gropes women. Trump has called the comments "locker room talk" and denied assaulting women.