Joy Villa wants justice.
Shortly after the 26-year-old singer filed a sexual assault report against Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, Villa spoke about the alleged incident during a Friday appearance on Good Morning America. The Trump-supporting artist said she hesitated to share her story out of fear of creating “bad press based around the president.”
“I’m an avid support [of Trump], Corey’s an avid supporter, we play on the same team,” she said on GMA. “I’m gearing up for a potential congressional run, and in politics, as a woman, it’s already a hard atmosphere. And he already has a lot more power than me.”
Villa said she wants “justice to be served” but went on to say she would prefer not to press charges against Lewandowski.
I would rather not go there. I really want an apology. I want this to be resolved in a manner that all of us can come out feeling good about it. I don’t want to keep dragging his name through the mud,” she explained. “It’s a hard situation, because this was a crime that was committed against me.”
Earlier this week, Villa posted a photo of her and Lewandowski that was taken just seconds before he allegedly slapped her butt during a holiday party at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. Villa claims Lewandowski hit her on the butt again after she asked him to stop.
“We were sort of ushered into a photo together and he was very drunk,” Villa said. “After the photo that I posted, he smacked my behind really hard and I told him, ‘No, stop. That’s not OK,’ and I said, ‘I can report you for sexual harassment.’ He said, ‘Go ahead, I work in the private sector’ and he continued. He actually did it again even harder.”
Lewandowski addressed the allegations during an interview on Fox Business.
“I think as someone who has been through this, you understand that there is a due process and there is a process which they will go through to determine a person’s innocence,” Lewandowski said. “I think you’ve been through, and you understand it and you respect it.”
In March of 2016, Lewandowski was arrested and charged with simple battery of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields. Though the case was eventually dropped, Lewandowski was fired as Trump’s campaign manager several months later.
During the GMA interview, Villa was also questioned about a video in which she is seen slapping the butt of businessman George Harris. Villa initially claimed it was consensual, but Harris insisted it was not.
“[Harris] didn’t say ‘stop’ or ‘no,’ and when he said, ‘Take it easy,’ I was being stupid,” Villa said of the video, which was filmed in September. “It was at a party in Las Vegas and I did stop. And if I offended George, you know, I totally apologize and I made it clear. I reached out to his best friend and talked it over and I said, ‘Listen, if this offended you, I’m sorry. I own up to it. That’s wrong.' And that’s really what we have to do to make sure we have a safe environment. We have to say, ‘I’m sorry.’”
GMA host Paula Faris later asked Villa if she believed the many women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment and/or assault.
“What I want is for justice to be served […] It is in the hands of the justice system,” Villa said. When pressed further regarding who she sides with, Villa said, “I can only side with something that has happened to me. This is my own experience. I also want to say that any women who has had that experience, needs to come out and talk about it and needs to file and make sure the due process does go in, because it is at a point your word against theirs. You don’t have to go public like I have. It’s sort of gone out of proportion sometimes. It distracts from some of the other things I’m doing.”
