Donald Trump angrily denies flood of sexual assault accusations
Donald Trump is angrily denying new allegations that he groped or kissed women against their will, CBS News’ Major Garrett reports.
In a series of reports Thursday morning, several women claim that Trump touched them sexually -- alleged incidents that happened over a 30-year span.
The dizzying array of charges -- likely a reaction to Trump’s blanket denial of sexual misconduct during Sunday’s presidential debate -- depict an egotistical celebrity willing to accost women whenever the mood struck.
Trump’s campaign denied everything, calling it a political media conspiracy to keep him from the White House.
Regardless, scrutiny of Trump over his words and actions are likely to intensify.
Jessica Leeds is one of several women who accused Trump on Wednesday of unwanted sexual advances.
“It was a real shock when all of a sudden his hands were all over me,” Leeds said in an interview with the New York Times. “He was like an octopus. It was like he had six arms.”
Leeds said Trump grabbed her breasts and reached up her skirt during a first-class flight in the early 1980s.
Other women alleged that Trump, a former pageant owner, barged in on their beauty contest dressing room -- something he described to radio personality Howard Stern in 2005.
“I’ll go backstage before a show, and everyone’s getting dressed,” Trump told Stern in an interview over a decade ago. “You see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that.”
Tasha Dixon, who was Miss Arizona in 2001, said she was subjected to Trump’s voyeurism.
“Who do you complain to? He owns the pageant,” she told CBS News’ Los Angeles affiliate. “He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything.”
Buzzfeed News spoke to four teenage beauty queens who say Trump spent time in the changing room -- though other contestants cast doubt on their reports.
The New York Times spoke to another woman who said upon meeting Trump in 2005 that he “kissed her directly on the mouth.”
Trump’s campaign also denied a first person account from People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote that during a 2005 interview with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, “He was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.”
The story appears in line with this boast secretly recorded during an “Access Hollywood” taping that same year: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it.”
In addition, a 1992 video released by “Entertainment Tonight” captures Trump’s voice talking about a young girl at Trump Tower that caught his eye.
“You are going up the escalator?” Trump can be heard saying.
A young girl’s voice responds, “Yeah!”
“I am going to be dating her in ten years. Can you believe it?” Trump says.
The Trump campaign called the Times charges fiction, and said the allegations “trivialize sexual assault” and demonstrate “a new low for where the media is willing to go… to determine this election.”
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway struggled with specific denials.
“There is no way for me to know what happened there,” Conway told CNN Wednesday. “I would have no way. I’m the campaign manager as he runs for president.”
On Wednesday night, the campaign sent a demand for retraction to the New York Times, calling the story reckless and defamatory.
The Times published its account despite threats of legal action from the Trump campaign.