new york city council speaker melissa mark-viverito speaks outside the trump tower in new york. | ap photo/mark lennihan by gloria pazmino 10/13/16 03:59 pm edt holding back tears and with her voice audibly breaking, city council speaker melissa mark-viverito spoke for the first time publicly on thursday about suffering sexual abuse as a child, saying donald trump's boasts about forcing himself upon women had "triggered things i hadn<u+2019>t felt in a very long time." <u+201c>as i said, i am one in five <u+2014> 20 percent of young girls unfortunately experience some form of sex abuse and molestation <u+2014> and i fall into that category,<u+201d> mark-viverito said during an unrelated press conference in the red room of city hall. <u+201c>between the ages of 5 and 8, i was molested by two different individuals, at two different points in time, and it<u+2019>s a reality that you live with everyday.<u+201d> story continued below mark-viverito first revealed that she was a victim of sexual abuse in a twitter message on wednesday evening, shortly after the new york times published a story in which two women accused trump, the republican presidential nominee, of sexual assault. the times story <u+2014> along with at least two other accounts from women who said trump made unwanted advances <u+2014> comes after a video of trump from 2005 showed him bragging about kissing and groping women, saying he could do so with impunity because of his own celebrity. <u+201c>what really triggered it for me was last friday when we heard about the tape, you have an individual who is boasting about violating and taking from a woman something without her consent, i just couldn<u+2019>t anymore,<u+201d> mark-viverito said. <u+201c>to have someone laughing and goading it and enabling it is just, it was very painful for me and it triggered things i hadn<u+2019>t felt in a very long time.<u+201d> mark-viverito, who was born in puerto rico and came to the united states when she was 18, did not offer details about the incidents, except to say she did not deal with the trauma of her abuse until she was a young woman in her 20s. <u+201c>if i<u+2019>m able to utilize the visibility that i<u+2019>m given and share my personal experience that it could provide courage to others, not necessarily to have to be public about it, but everybody has to choose the way that they want to deal with their abuse, maybe to get support or to find other outlets or ways that they can express and heal,<u+201d> she said. mark-viverito, who is supporting hillary clinton for president, said after trump<u+2019>s comments she "would feel uncomfortable<u+201d> around anyone who remains willing to support trump. <u+201c>in supporting trump you are supporting and condoning this type of behavior,<u+201d> mark-viverito said. <u+201c>i think people have a responsibility to make their position extremely clear.<u+201d> the council, while overwhelming democratic, includes two republican members who support trump <u+2014>councilmen joe borelli and steve matteo, both of staten island. borelli, a co-chair of trump<u+2019>s campaign in new york and a frequent surrogate on cable news, responded to the speaker's comments by pointing to clinton's work as a court-appointed defense attorney for an accused rapist in 1975 and mark-viverito's support for the jailed puerto rican nationalist oscar lopez rivera. "i am sorry to hear of the speaker's past, but only one candidate in this race wears the stigma of defending a child rapist,<u+201d> borelli said. <u+201c>i also find it laughable to hear someone who spent her christmas break in federal prison with a convicted terrorist, and who supports an organization that killed four new yorkers, try to lecture anyone, even donald trump, on morality. in fact, i imagine that anyone defending hillary clinton's blatant corruption and contempt for the public may want to come off their high horse." matteo, the council<u+2019>s republican minority leader, expressed support for mark-viverito in a statement but said he would continue to support trump's campaign. <u+201c>i am very sorry to hear about melissa<u+2019>s very painful and horrific experience as a child. my heart goes out to her. i could not condemn such vile behavior toward a human being more strongly,<u+201d> matteo said. <u+201c>however, i think it is unfair to paint voters with such a broad brush. supporting a candidate does not mean one condones everything that candidate says or does, or has been alleged to have said or done. good people can disagree in politics." a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york education policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york energy policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york health care policy and politics a free synopsis of our pro morning email about new york real estate policy and politics our morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on state news and politics a morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on city news and politics. a weekly round-up of legislation in city council for politics and policy professionals. a reported briefing on money in politics, executive moves, and trends in communications, lobbying and consulting. our twice-a-week digest of news on courts and the law in new york azi paybarah and jimmy vielkind's must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable new yorkers.
mark-viverito reveals personal history of abuse, condemns trump, supporters
gloria pazmino