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Several more women claim inappropriate behaviour from Donald Trump

More allegations about the alleged behaviour of Republican presidential candidate ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

07.45 13 Oct 2016


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Several more women claim inapp...

Several more women claim inappropriate behaviour from Donald Trump

Newstalk
Newstalk

07.45 13 Oct 2016


Share this article


More allegations about the alleged behaviour of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump towards women have surfaced.

The billionaire's campaign for the White House had already been rocked by the revelation of comments from 2005 in which he boasted about his ill treatment of women.

In a televised debate earlier this week, he denied those comments were admissions of sexual assault and said he had never carried out such actions.

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But in an interview with The New York Times, an alleged victim named Jessica Leeds said Trump's denial had prompted her to come forward and tell her story.

She told the newspaper what happened while she was sitting next to the tycoon on a flight to New York in the 1980s.

She said: "It was a real shock when all of a sudden his hands were all over me. He started encroaching on my space and I hesitate to use this expression but he was like an octopus, it was like he had six arms, he was all over the place.

"If he had stuck with the upper part of my body, I might not have gotten that upset but it was when he started putting his hand up my skirt. That was it."

Jessica Leeds speaking to The New York Times | Image: Screenshot/The New York Times

She said she had told a number of people about the incident at the time but had not reported it to the authorities because unwanted advances from men happened during the 1970s and 1980s.

"We accepted it for years. We were taught it was our fault."

The New York Times report contains allegations by another alleged victim, Rachel Crooks, that Mr Trump was guilty of inappropriate conduct towards her in a lift in 2005.

A spokesman for the Trump campaign has denied all the allegations.

In a statement, Jason Miller said: "This entire article is fiction.

"To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr Trump trivialises sexual assault and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."

Mr Trump has threatened to sue the paper for releasing the story.

But DCU journalism Professor Steven Knowlton told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk the case will not get to court.

While several other allegations have since surfaced from other women.

Two Miss USA contestants claim Mr Trump deliberately walked in on them when they were naked in a dressing room.

Another woman claims she was groped by Mr Trump at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida, while a People magazine reporter claims Mr Trump forced himself on her shortly before she was due to interview him and his wife in 2005.

And a video from 1992 appears to overhear an incident in which Mr Trump mentions he will be "dating" a young girl in 10 years time.

The campaign was sent into a tailspin by the emergence of the Access Hollywood recording from a decade ago. Dozens of Republicans have distanced themselves from their party's candidate and his opinion poll ratings have plunged.

Mr Trump described the comments to TV host Billy Bush as "locker room talk" and he apologised during the debate. He also attacked former president Bill Clinton over alleged affairs: "Mine were words, his was action."

Earlier this week, the high-profile civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred said she had been contacted by "a number of women" alleging inappropriate conduct by Mr Trump.

His rival Hillary Clinton has repeatedly drawn attention to his history of comments to and about women during the course of a bitter and ill-tempered campaign.


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