Donald Trump’s campaign team lambasted a New York Times report released Wednesday evening that said two women are making new claims that Trump sexually assaulted them years ago.
“This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous. To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election,” Trump’s senior communications adviser, Jason Miller, said in a statement.
“It is absurd to think that one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story, and for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all,” Miller said. “Further, the Times story buries the pro-Clinton financial and social media activity on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, reinforcing that this truly is nothing more than a political attack. This is a sad day for the Times.”
Trump’s defense comes three days after testifying on national television that he has never approached women without their permission, much less grabbed them by their genitals, as he boasted in a recently leaked “Access Hollywood” video.
But 74-year-old Jessica Leeds said she wanted to punch the TV screen after she heard him say that. Leeds told the Times that the billionaire businessman sexually assaulted her on a flight more than three decades earlier. Leeds, who was assigned to sit next to Trump on the flight, said he lifted up the armrest between them and grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.
“He was like an octopus,” Leeds said. “His hands were everywhere.”
Leeds left her seat and went to the back of the plane. She only told close friends and did not report the incident to authorities.
The second woman, Rachel Crooks, reflected on a time when working at Trump Tower in Manhattan during 2005, the businessman kissed her on the lips during their first encounter. The then-22-year-old receptionist at Bayrock Group said she was shaken up by the incident and even more angry that she had no one to complain to about it.
“It was so inappropriate,” Crooks said. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”
Trump denied both claims Tuesday night in a phone interview with the paper.
“None of this ever took place,” said Trump. He said the Times was making up false allegations to hurt him and threatened to sue the organization. “You are a disgusting human being.”
Although neither woman ever went to authorities to report the incidents, Crooks said she has stepped up to share her story now because “people should know … this behavior is pervasive and it is real.”
