Rachel Crooks, Jessica Leeds: Women Come Forward With Trump Sexual Assault Stories

The New York Times is reporting that two women, Rachel Crooks and Jessica Leeds, have come forward with allegations of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump making sexual advances on each of them at different points over the past 30 years.

Jessica Leeds, who is now 74-years-old, contacted the New York Times after watching Sunday evening’s second presidential debate, where moderator Anderson Cooper asked Donald Trump directly if he understood that audio of the Republican on an Access Hollywood bus with Billy Bush in 2005, released on Friday, equated to him bragging about sexual assault.

“Grab them by the p****,” Trump was quoted by the Inquisitr from the 2005 audio recording with Bill Bush. “You can do anything. And when you’re a star, they let you do it.”

When Anderson Cooper asked if Trump had actually ever assaulted women in the way he described to Billy Bush, the presidential candidate responded “no.” CNN notes that Cooper asked Trump three times before the candidate answered.

For Jessica Leeds, this appears to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxY5_nG07Vc

“I wanted to punch the screen,” Ms. Leeds was quoted with regard to Trump’s Sunday evening denial.

Leeds described sitting next to Trump in the first-class cabin of a New York City-bound flight over 30 years ago, after being upgraded from coach. About 45 minutes after the flight departed, Ms. Leeds stated that Trump “lifted the armrest” and began to “grope” her. Trump was said to have put his hand up her skirt and touched her breasts.

The then-38-year-old had never met Donald Trump before.

Jessica Leeds was so upset by Trump’s advances that she left first class and returned to her seat in coach. Two years after the incident, Leeds reported happening upon Trump at a charity event, where he reportedly berated her with a “crude remark.”

“We accepted it for years,” Leeds said when asked if she reported Donald Trump’s alleged conduct to the airline. “We were taught it was our fault.”

Although she shared her story with those close to her, Ms. Leeds never reported the assault to the airline or to police.

The New York woman reportedly told at least four other people about Trump’s behavior in the years since, with which the New York Times has corroborated Leeds’ story.

Rachel Crooks was working as a receptionist with a real estate company in New York in 2005. The then-22-year-old described Trump entering the Bayrock Group office, shaking her hand, and then kissing her directly on the mouth.

“It was so inappropriate,” Ms. Crooks was quoted by the New York Times as saying. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”

Immediately after the unwanted kiss, Crooks called her sister, Brianne Webb, in Ohio and relayed what had occurred.

Ms. Webb recalled discussing if Crooks has misunderstood Trump’s intention; if perhaps he had attempted to kiss her on the cheek and missed.

“No, he kissed me on the mouth,” Ms. Webb remembered Ms. Crooks stating.

When one of the Times reporters responsible for the story was said to approach Donald Trump to ask for comment on the allegations, the GOP nominee “screamed” at the journalist that she was a “sick person,” reported by Heavy.

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

Donald Trump campaign communications manager Jason Miller released a statement with regard to the Times article.

Miller’s statement dismissed the allegations as “fiction” and “completely false,” as well as describing them as “dangerous.”

“To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election,” the Trump campaign statement reads.

[Featured Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]