Former US president, Bush Snr accused of sexual assault, apologises

A television actress has accused former US President George H.W. Bush of touching her from behind while she was posing for a photo alongside him and telling her a dirty joke.

Heather Lind said in a now-deleted Instagram post that the incident took place while she was posing for a photo with Mr Bush during a promotional tour for her AMC series TURN: Washington's Spies.

In the post, Lind used the hashtag "#MeToo," the social media campaign in which individuals have shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault.

When I got the chance to meet George HW 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 wrote.

He didn't shake my hand. He touched me from behind 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 office has since apologised and offered an explanation.

At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures," according to the statement.

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 apologises most sincerely.

Heather Lind pictured with former president George H W Bush at a screening of the US TV

In the photo, Lind appears alongside the 93-year-old Bush — who is seated in a wheelchair — at a Houston screening of the television series in 2014.