Trump Accusers Reiterate Claims in Appearances for New Documentary
WASHINGTON — Three women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior appeared on “Megyn Kelly Today” on Monday to reiterate their claims and call for some kind of reckoning amid the #MeToo movement.
The women appear in a new documentary short video about Trump’s accusers, called “16 Women and Donald Trump,” from progressive filmmaker Robert Greenwald, and planned to appear at a press conference with him later in the day.
“I would like to see some reckoning, that he is not made of Teflon, that he acknowledges in some fashion and is called on to answer for the charges,” Jessica Leeds said on “Today.”
During the presidential campaign, Leeds told The New York Times that in the early 1980s, she was on a New York-bound flight and was seated in first class next to Trump.
“All of the sudden he was all over me, kissing and groping,” she said on “Today.” Then, she said, he put his hand up her skirt, and “I managed to wiggle out. I grabbed my purse and went to the back of the airplane.”
A couple of years later, she saw Trump at a Humane Society charity event, and identified herself, mentioning the incident. He called her the “c” word, Leeds told “Today.”
Samantha Holvey recounted her story of the 2006 Miss USA Pageant, which the Trump Organization owned at the time, and how Trump would line up all of the contestants to look them over in what she described as a demeaning way. Holvey, who was Miss North Carolina USA, said that she felt like “I was just a piece of meat.”
At one point Trump came backstage as the women competing were in the hair and makeup room, something that made them uncomfortable, Holvey said. “He comes in like he owns the place and owns you,” she said.
She, too, came forward to tell her story during the 2016 campaign, but said that she was distraught when he was sworn into office.
“It was just a tough day because it was like the entire country said, ‘We don’t care that he is like this,'” Holvey said.
Also appearing on “Today” was Rachel Crooks, who also came forward during the campaign. She recounted her story of working as a receptionist for a company that had offices in Trump Tower.
She said that in 2005, having often spotted Trump using a nearby elevator bank, she decided to introduce herself.
He gave her a double cheek kiss, but then kept kissing her. “He kissed me on the lips and I was shocked. I ran back into the office and I remember hiding in my boss’s office. I called my sister and said, ‘I don’t know what happened. It is just horrible.'”
She said that she didn’t make a big deal of it to her employer because she feared losing her job as her company, a development firm, did extensive business with the Trump Organization.
Trump later came into the office and asked for her phone number, she said, and she asked, “What do you need that for?” Trump told her he would pass it along to his modeling agency, but they never called her.
The White House has dismissed the women’s claims, and did so again on Monday.
“These false claims, totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts, were addressed at length during last year’s campaign, and the American people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory,” a White House spokesperson told “Today.” “The timing and absurdity of these false claims speaks volumes and the publicity tour that has begun only forth confirms the political motives behind them.”
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