George H.W. Bush Apologizes to Actress Who Alleged Sexual Harassment

Actress Heather Lind has accused President George H.W. Bush of sexual harassment.

Lind, an actress who starred on the AMC series “Turn: Washington’s Spies,” wrote in an Instagram post that Bush senior “touched me from behind” and then told her a dirty joke during a 2014 promotional event. The post appears to have been deleted on Wednesday.

Bush’s office said in a statement to several media outlets that “President Bush would never — under any circumstance — intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologizes if his attempt at humor offended Ms. Lind.” Reached later on Wednesday morning, Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said after the post was deleted, he was “not sure where things stand.”

Representatives for Lind and AMC did not immediately return requests for comment.

In her Instagram post, Lind used the hashtag “#MeToo,” the social media campaign in which individuals have shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault. She wrote that she decided to open up about the incident because 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 organizing aid to states and territories damaged by recent hurricanes.”

In the Instagram caption, Lind said she was with cast members about to do a photo shoot with Bush when the incident occurred.

“He didn’t shake my hand,” she wrote. “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.

“Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not again.’ His security guard told me I shouldn’t have stood next to him for the photo. We were instructed to call him Mr. President.”