Over a dozen women have come forward to accuse President Donald Trump of some harassment ranging from groping, forceful kissing and so on, but the President keeps denying these allegations and dismissing some as just “Locker room talk”
A group of women who have publicly accused President Donald Trump of sexual harassment and assault detailed their accounts of being
groped, fondled and forcibly kissed by the businessman-turned-politician at a news conference on Monday.
“This was serial misconduct and perversion on the part of Mr. Trump. Unfortunately, this behavior isn’t rare in our society, and people of all backgrounds can be victims. The only reason I am here today is that this offender is now the President of our country,” said Rachel Crooks, a former Bayrock Group receptionist who accused Trump of kissing her on the mouth without her consent in 2005.
Samantha Holvey, the former Miss North Carolina 2006 who has accused Trump of inspecting beauty pageant contestants, and Jessica Leeds, who has accused the President of grabbing her chest and attempting to move his hand up her skirt on a flight, also sat with Crooks at Monday’s event.
The firsthand accounts come as a public conversation on sexual assault and harassment — spurred by a series of accusations against high-profile figures in politics, Hollywood and journalism — rages throughout the United States. Brave New Films, a production company that realized a film on the women who have accused Trump of sexual assault, hosted the event. At least 15 women have come forward with accusations against Trump ranging from sexual harassment and misconduct to sexual assault, including unwanted kissing and groping. All the alleged incidents took place prior to his assuming the presidency.
On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that the allegations took place “long before he was elected president” and that Trump has “addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations.”
Sanders also claimed that “eyewitnesses” have backed up Trump’s denials.
“The President has denied any of these allegations, as have eyewitnesses,” Sanders said. “Several reports have shown those eyewitnesses also back up the President’s claim in this process and again, the American people knew this and voted for the President and we feel like we are ready to move forward in that process.”
CNN has asked the White House for information on those reports.
In addition to the woman at the press conference on Monday, Trump’s accusers include Temple Taggart, the former Miss Utah USA who accused Trump of kissing her on the lips in 1997; Mindy McGillivray, who accused Trump of grabbing her butt at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2003 and Natasha Stoynoff, who accused Trump of “forcing his tongue” down her throat during a photo shoot at Mar-a-Lago in 2005.
Crooks called on Congress to “put aside party affiliations and investigate Trump’s history of sexual misconduct.”
“In an objective setting, without question, a person with this record would have entered the graveyard of political aspirations, never to return,” she said. “Yet here we are with that man as President.”
Leeds added that while some areas of society are “being held accountable for unwanted behavior … we are not holding our President accountable for what he is and who he is.”
Trump has personally vehemently denied the accusations.
“The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over,” Trump said months before the 2016 election in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Trump, however, has never filed a lawsuit against the accusers.
Sanders said earlier this year that the White House’s position is that all the women are lying.
“Yeah, we have been clear on that from the beginning and the President has spoken on it,” Sanders said in October.
Trump opened the floodgates of accusations against him during the 2016 campaign when he downplayed the release of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video that showed him saying he was able to “grab them by the p**sy” because he was famous. Trump downplayed his remarks as nothing more than “locker room talk” at the second presidential debate and said he never kissed or groped women without consent.
But not all those close to the President have been so dismissive.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Sunday that women who accuse a man of inappropriate sexual behavior — including Trump — “should be heard.” Two Democratic senators — Cory Booker of New Jersey and Jeff Merkley of Oregon — called for Trump to resign over the multiple accusations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against him.
The calls come days after Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, announced his intention to resign over accusations of sexual assault.
“I just watched Sen. Al Franken do the honorable thing and resign from his office,” Booker said. “My question is, why isn’t Donald Trump doing the same thing — who has more serious allegations against him, with more women who have come forward. The fact pattern on him is far more damning than the fact pattern on Al Franken.”
Source: CNN
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