The woman who says Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her while she worked as a housekeeper at the Sofitel Hotel told a group of reporters today that she cries every day, but she continues to pursue the prosecution against the former International Monetary Fund director because her daughter asked her to. "I said, I promise I’ll be strong for you and for every other woman in the world," Nafissatou Diallo said "I'm going through a lot. My daughter's going through a lot. We are crying every day. We can't sleep." Diallo continued, "what happened to me, I don't want it to happen to any other woman." She took no questions, and a cluster of reporters followed her from the room after she finished her remarks. 

Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, said afterward that it was not clear whether Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance would pursue the prosecution against Strauss-Kahn, but that he would pursue a civil case. "We’re going to hold Dominique Strauss-Kahn accountable, whether it’s in a criminal courtroom or a civil courtroom, and that’s a fact," he said. "What she wants is justice. And if the prosecutors are not going to get her justice, then we have to." He wouldn't say when he planned to bring a lawsuit against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but said it would be "soon."

Diallo had stayed out of the public eye until Sunday, when she did an interview with ABC News, followed by a Newsweek cover story that came out on Monday. Today was her first appearance at a public media event. She said she was there "because people call me bad names," a statement on which Thompson elaborated later, referring to reports in the New York Post earlier this month that claimed she was working as a prostitute on the side of her housekeeping duties. Diallo has sued the Post for libel. Today, Thompson further dressed down the reporters, saying, "she has been called a con artist in media outlets throughout the world," and then later, "every day we were told the case was going to be dismissed, you know who told us that? You did." He said his client had come forward because she "didn't want to wait to tell the truth." 

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Adam Martin