George H.W. Bush occasionally pats women on their buttocks in a "good-natured manner" but "sincerely" apologizes for offending them, a spokesman said after a second woman accused the 93-year-old, wheelchair-bound ex-president of grabbing her behind.
"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," said spokesman Jim McGrath.
"Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate. To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely."
His apology and admission that he touched women improperly came after actress Jordana Grolnick posted her claim on Instagram Wednesday evening, a day after another actress, Heather Lind, first accused Bush of groping her.
Grolnick said Bush grabbed her as she posed for a photograph with him and his wife, Barbara, after a performance of the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" at a theater in Maine last year, the website Deadspin reported.
"He reached his right hand around to my behind," Grolnick said, "and as we smiled for the photo he asked the group, 'Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?' As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, 'David Cop-a-Feel!'"
The former first lady was embarrassed by her husband's antics, as Grolnick and others in the cast laughed nervously.
"[Barbara Bush] said something along the line of, 'He's going to get himself put into jail,' to which we laughed harder," Grolnick said.
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