Heather Lind, cast member in Turn: Washington’s Spies, charged former president George H.W. Bush with touching her inappropriately during a photo that was shot to promote the AMC show a few years ago.
Lind wrote on Instagram that she was "disturbed today by a photo I saw of President Barack Obama shaking hands with George H. W. Bush in a gathering of ex-presidents organising aid to states and territories damaged by recent hurricanes."
“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," Lind continued. "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. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again."
The former president's spokesman Jim McGrath issued a statement to the media about the allegation.
"President Bush would never—under any circumstance—intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologizes if his attempt at humor offended Ms. Lind," it said.
A second statement added more context, noting how President Bush, at 93, has been in a wheelchair for five years, meaning his arm “falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures. To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke—and on occasion, he has patted women's rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner. Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate. To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely."
Lind played Anna Strong, part of the Culper Ring spy association, in Turn. The Revolutionary War show concluded after four seasons on AMC this past summer.
