Women call for Trump to face sex abuse inquiry
UNITED STATES: Three women are demanding that US President Trump face a congressional investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, as powerful men across the country come under renewed scrutiny over their behaviour.
Jessica Leeds has alleged that Trump groped her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight more than 30 years ago. She said yesterday that she ran into Trump at an event several years after the alleged incident and ‘‘he called me the worst name ever’’.
‘‘It was shocking. It was like a bucket of cold water being thrown over me.’’
Trump has denied all the allegations against him.
Two other women appeared alongside Leeds to recount their stories to NBC host Megyn Kelly.
Rachel Crooks said Trump kissed her against her will in 2005. Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant, said that Trump wandered into the dressing rooms used by participants in the beauty pageant in 2006. It was ‘‘the dirtiest I felt in my entire life’’, she said.
All three women first came forward last year, while Trump was running for the White House. Holvey said yesterday that attitudes had changed since the election, a shift symbolised by the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct, which was prompted by a mass of allegations against Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein.
‘‘Let’s try round two,’’ Holvey said. ‘‘The environment’s different. Let’s try again.’’
The White House said in a statement: ‘‘These false claims, totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts, were addressed at length during last year’s campaign, and the American people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory.’’
Leeds said men were being held accountable ‘‘except for our president’’. ‘‘In fact, his staff made a big point of calling us all liars,’’ she added.
Nikki Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, broke with the administration to say that more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct ‘‘should be heard’’.
‘‘Women should always feel comfortable coming forward. And we should all be willing to listen to them,’’ she said.
Trump’s lawyers argue that he should not have to face a defamation lawsuit filed by a former contestant on his reality TV show The Apprentice.
Summer Zervos alleges that Trump groped and forcibly kissed her in a Los Angeles hotel room a decade ago. She has sued him for defamation, claiming that he deliberately lied about her. His lawyers have argued that a trial would interfere with his presidential duties.