Woman tells court Trump groped her on flight in 1970s
More trouble appears to be brewing for former United States President Donald Trump after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her on a flight in the late 1970s. The accused victim, Jessica Leeds, revealed the alleged assault while testifying in writer E Jean Carroll's rape and defamation case against the former president. Trump has denied all such allegations and has never been prosecuted.
Why does this story matter?
The fresh charges were raised in a New York civil trial arising from Carroll's lawsuit that Trump sexually assaulted her. Last month, Trump pleaded not guilty to a hush-money payment to an adult movie star. He is also being investigated for his alleged mishandling of classified White House documents, the Capitol Hill attack, and his efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.
What did Leeds tell court?
Leeds told Manhattan's federal court that Trump put his hand up her skirt in the business class section of a flight to New York in 1978 or 1979, AFP reported. "There was no conversation. It was like out of the blue," she said. Leeds, who is now 81, claimed that Trump was trying to kiss her and grab her breasts.
'It was like he had 40 zillion hands': Leeds
"He was trying to kiss me, trying to pull me towards him. He was grabbing my breasts. It was like he had 40 zillion hands. It was like a tussling match between the two of us," she told the court.
Leeds was testifying in writer Carroll's case
Notably, Carroll's lawyers asked Leeds to testify in an attempt to persuade the nine-person jury that Trump has engaged in a pattern of sexual assault. Moreover, this is not the first time Leeds has accused Trump. In 2016, just weeks before the elections, she and a dozen other women accused Trump of sexual misconduct. "I was furious because he was lying," she recalled.
What did Carroll accuse Trump of
Carroll alleged that the former US president sexually abused her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store changing room in Manhattan in 1996. The former Elle magazine journalist also claimed that the 76-year-old defamed her when she went public with her charges. However, Trump has repeatedly rejected the charges and has not been prosecuted criminally in the matter.
Carroll's lawsuit against Trump
Carroll's lawsuit seeks unspecific damages for "significant pain and suffering, long-term psychological and financial harms, loss of dignity and self-esteem, and invasion of privacy." It also asks Trump to withdraw his words. She filed the lawsuit last year following the passage of new legislation in New York that granted sexual assault victims a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers decades after the incidents.
