At the presidential debate on Sunday night, Anderson Cooper pressed Donald Trump into committing as to whether Trump had done any of the things (groping, etc.) Trump bragged about on the now infamous Access Hollywood tape. Trump said he never did those things, it was just locker room talk.
Ben Shapiro saw what was about to happen — that the following week Trump’s statement would be put to the test:
Well, on Wednesday night, within an hour or so of each other, multiple media outlets published separate stories of women accusing Trump of doing the things he bragged about on the tape.
People’s Natasha Stoynoff recounted the time she visited the Trumps at their Florida mansion to write a story about their first year of marriage. When Melania left to change, Stoynoff said Trump wanted to show her around the mansion, especially one 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.Now, I’m a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger — a looming figure — and he was fast, taking me by surprise and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trump’s longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.The butler informed us that Melania would be down momentarily, and it was time to resume the interview.
Jessica Leeds told The New York Times that about 30 years ago she sat next to Trump on an airplane:
About 45 minutes after takeoff, she recalled, Mr. Trump lifted the armrest and began to touch her.According to Ms. Leeds, Mr. Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.“He was like an octopus,” she said. “His hands were everywhere.”She fled to the back of the plane. “It was an assault,” she said.Ms. Leeds has told the story to at least four people close to her, who also spoke with The New York Times.
Rachel Crooks claims Trump assaulted her in the elevator at Trump Tower:
Ms. Crooks was a 22-year-old receptionist at Bayrock Group, a real estate investment and development company in Trump Tower in Manhattan, when she encountered Mr. Trump outside an elevator in the building one morning in 2005.Aware that her company did business with Mr. Trump, she turned and introduced herself. They shook hands, but Mr. Trump would not let go, she said. Instead, he began kissing her cheeks. Then, she said, he “kissed me directly on the mouth.”It didn’t feel like an accident, she said. It felt like a violation.“It was so inappropriate,” Ms. Crooks recalled in an interview. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”
Those are the words Mindy McGillivray shouted at her TV when Trump said he never assaulted a woman. McGillivray claims Trump grabbed her ass in 2003 when she assisted her friend Ken Davidoff, a photographer, during a concert in Florida:
After the show, Davidoff and McGillivray were standing in a pavilion behind the main house in the middle of a group of people. To their left was Regis Philbin and his wife, Joy, according to Davidoff. To McGillivray’s immediate right was Trump and his fiancée, Melania.“Ray already performed. He’s ready to leave. He’s saying his goodbyes to everyone,’’ McGillivray recalled.“All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it’s Ken’s camera bag, that was my first instinct. I turn around and there’s Donald. He sort of looked away quickly. I quickly turned back, facing Ray Charles, and I’m stunned.’’McGillivray said she remembers saying to herself, ‘’‘OK, am I going to say something now and make a scene or be quiet?’ I chose to stay quiet.’’Davidoff said he did not witness the alleged groping but he said he has never had any reason to doubt McGillivray.Asked about the possibility that what she felt was Trump or someone accidentally bumping into her, McGillivray said no. “This was a pretty good nudge. More of a grab,’’ she said. “It was pretty close to the center of my butt. I was startled. I jumped.’’
Contestants at the 1997 Miss Teen USA pageant said Trump, who owned it at the time, barged in as they changed clothes:
Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing.“I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here,’” said Mariah Billado, the former Miss Vermont Teen USA.Trump, she recalled, said something like, “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before.”Three other women, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of getting engulfed in a media firestorm, also remembered Trump entering the dressing room while girls were changing. Two of them said the girls rushed to cover their bodies, with one calling it “shocking” and “creepy.” The third said she was clothed and introduced herself to Trump.
Eleven contestants, though, said they do not remember seeing Trump in the dressing room.
Jill Harth, who worked with Trump on these pageants, claimed he assaulted her many times:
Jill Harth, who worked with Trump on pageants in the 1990s, has said that Trump tried to grope her on various occasions, and sexually assaulted her in his daughter Ivanka’s bedroom. “I was admiring the decoration, and next thing I know he’s pushing me against a wall and has his hands all over me,” Harth told Nicholas Kristof, the Times columnist. “He was trying to kiss me. I was freaking out.” On another occasion, she says she vomited as a defense mechanism.
Trump has threatened legal action against The Times. His lawyer sent a letter to the publication:
The Times said Trump blew up at the reporter when asked about the allegations:
“None of this ever took place,” said Mr. Trump, who began shouting at The Times reporter who was questioning him. He said that The Times was making up the allegations to hurt him and that he would sue the news organization if it reported them.“You are a disgusting human being,” he told the reporter as she questioned him about the women’s claims.Asked whether he had ever done any of the kissing or groping that he had described on the recording, Mr. Trump was once again insistent: “I don’t do it. I don’t do it. It was locker room talk.”
Apparently so.
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