Multiple women say Trump touched them inappropriately

by Rebecca Savransky - 10/12/16 7:07 PM ET

Several women have come forward to say they have been groped or forcibly kissed by Donald Trump.

The allegations come after the release of a 2005 tape in which Trump describes how he could grope and kiss women without their consent because of his celebrity status.

The GOP nominee’s campaign has denied many of the allegations made against him.

Two women told the New York Times in a story published Wednesday that Trump kissed or groped them.

{mosads}Jessica Leeds, now 74, told the publication she was seated next to the Republican nominee during a flight to New York more than three decades ago. She had been moved up from coach to first class.

About 45 minutes after the flight took off, Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt, she said.

The two had never met before.

“He was like an octopus,” she told the Times. “His hands were everywhere.”

“It was an assault.”

She didn’t report the incident to the airline staff after moving back to coach, according to the publication, but she did share the story with people close to her.

Another woman, Rachel Crooks, told The Times she met Trump in 2005 when she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a company in Trump Tower in Manhattan.

She introduced herself to Trump outside an elevator and shook his hand. Trump wouldn’t let go and then began kissing her on the cheeks, and then he “kissed me directly on the mouth,” she told the Times.

“It was so inappropriate,” Crooks said. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”

Trump’s campaign quickly put out a statement denying the reports, calling the entire article “a completely false, coordinated character assassination” that “trivializes sexual assault.”

“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,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said.

The two stories — which have never been made public before — come after the release of a 2005 tape in which the GOP nominee was heard making lewd comments about women.

The GOP nominee brushed off his comments as locker room talk. During Sunday night’s presidential debate, he denied he had ever done the things he talked about.

In an interview with the Times Tuesday night, the GOP nominee denied both Leeds’s and Crooks’s stories and accused the publication of making the accounts up.

“None of this ever took place,” Trump said, threatening to sue the publication if the paper reported the women’s stories.

“You are a disgusting human being,” he told the reporter.

Trump also repeated that he had never groped or kissed a woman without consent.

“I don’t do it. i don’t do it. It was locker room talk,” Trump said.

Both Leeds and Crooks said they support Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and Crooks has given less than $200 to Clinton and President Obama.

In its statement, the Trump campaign points to this fact, and its low placement in the story, to claim the story is “nothing more than a political attack.”

Other women have also since shared past incidents with Trump.

Former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff said that in December 2005 she was touring his Mar-a-Lago resort with Trump and his then-pregnant wife Melania. When Melania stepped away, she claims, Trump shoved her up against the wall and started trying to kiss her until his butler walked into the room.

“We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat,” she said.

She also said Trump told her they were going to have an affair, and when she showed up late to a massage appointment at the resort the next day, she was told Trump had been waiting for her there.

A Trump spokesperson told People, “There is no merit or veracity to this fictional story.” Questioning why it wouldn’t have been reported at the time, the spokesperson said the account was part of a “politically motivated fictional pile-on.”

Separately, Cassandra Searles, Miss Washington 2013, wrote a post on Facebook about how Trump treated the contestants during her time on the Miss USA Pageant, according to Yahoo News.

In a comment on the post, she wrote Trump probably wouldn’t want her to share the story of “that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room,” according to Rolling Stone.

“Do y’all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn’t look him in the eyes?” she wrote in the Facebook post.

“Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property? Oh I forgot to mention that guy will be in the running to become the next President of the United States. I love the idea of having a misogynist as the President.”

Another woman, Mindy McGillivray, said she had been groped by the GOP nominee 13 years ago at the Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach Post reported. She didn’t report the incident to authorities.

Trump’s press secretary, Hope Hicks, denied the allegations made by McGillivray.

“There is no truth to this whatsoever,” Hicks told the publication. “This allegation lacks any merit or veracity.”

Since the release of the 2005 tape, Trump has faced backlash from many Republicans. Some have rescinded their support of the GOP nominee and others have called for him the drop out of the race.

Hillary Clinton has also been widening her lead over her Republican rival in recent polls.

Updated at 11:33 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton