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US Election 2016: Trump 'groped woman like an octopus' US Election 2016: Trump 'groped woman like an octopus'
(about 5 hours later)
Two women have told the New York Times that Donald Trump touched them inappropriately, but the Republican candidate's campaign denies the report. Donald Trump is facing a series of allegations of inappropriate sexual contact, after US media outlets reported claims from several women.
One woman said the White House hopeful grabbed her breasts and attempted to put his hand up her skirt on a flight three decades ago. Two women told the New York Times that the Republican presidential runner groped or kissed them.
The second woman said Mr Trump kissed her on the mouth against her will at Trump Towers in 2005. A reporter for People magazine wrote a first person account describing being forcibly kissed by the property tycoon.
Mr Trump's campaign said "this entire article is fiction". Mr Trump's campaign have rejected the claims, describing the NYT article as "defamatory".
The New York Times was launching "a completely false, coordinated character assassination," a statement from his campaign said. His camp has made public a letter to the NYT threatening legal action unless the paper retracts the article, which it called "a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr Trump's candidacy".
Jessica Leeds, 74, from Manhattan, told the paper she had been sitting next to Mr Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York when he lifted the armrest and began to touch her. The NYT said it was standing by its article.
She was 38 years old at the time. Late last week, a video shot in 2005 emerged which showed Mr Trump making obscene remarks about groping women.
"He was like an octopus... his hands were everywhere," she said. "It was an assault." He apologised for the comments - which were widely condemned - but described them as "locker-room talk".
Many top Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have since distanced themselves from the businessman-turned-politician.
'So upset''So upset'
Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower when she said she was kissed on the lips by Mr Trump outside a lift in the building. In the NYT, Jessica Leeds, 74, from Manhattan, said she had been sitting next to Mr Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York when he lifted the armrest and began to touch her.
"It was so inappropriate," Ms Crooks told the New York Times. "He was like an octopus... his hands were everywhere," said Ms Leeds, who was 38 at the time. "It was an assault."
"I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that." Rachel Crooks said she was kissed on the lips by Mr Trump outside a lift in Trump Tower when she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company there.
Neither women has ever reported their accounts to the authorities, but both shared what happened to them with friends and family. "It was so inappropriate," Ms Crooks told the paper. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."
Ms Leeds said she was "angry and shook up" after Mr Trump touched her. Neither women reported their accounts to the authorities, but both shared what happened to them with friends and family.
She said she quickly left the first-class cabin and returned to economy. In People magazine, meanwhile, writer Natasha Stoynoff said an incident took place in December 2005, when she went to interview the Trumps ahead of their first wedding anniversary.
Ms Leeds said she had largely put the encounter out of her mind until last year, when Mr Trump's presidential campaign took off. Mr Trump said he wanted to show her around their Florida estate, including one "tremendous" room.
"His behaviour is deep-seated in his character," she said. "To those who would vote for him, I would wish for them to reflect on this." "We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat," Ms Stoynoff wrote.
Ms Crooks said she "started hysterically crying" to her boyfriend after Mr Trump kissed her. A spokesman said the account in People had "no merit or veracity".
She said Mr Trump later asked for her phone number, which he said he wanted to pass on to his modelling agency, but she never heard from them. Another woman, Mindy McGillivray, now 36, told the Palm Beach Post she was 23 when Trump grabbed her bottom at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2003.
On coming forward, she said: "People should know... this behaviour is pervasive and it is real." Her companion that day, photographer Ken Davidoff, told the newspaper he remembers her pulling him aside moments afterwards and telling him: "Donald just grabbed my ass!"
Mr Trump's campaign rejected this claim.
In other reports:
The Clinton campaign said the "disturbing" New York Times story "sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women".The Clinton campaign said the "disturbing" New York Times story "sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women".
"These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behaviour he bragged about in the tape is more than just words.""These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behaviour he bragged about in the tape is more than just words."
'Grabbed my ass'
Meanwhile, Mindy McGillivray told the Palm Beach Post she was 23 when Trump grabbed her bottom at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2003.
She said he was standing next to his then-fiancee Melania Knauss at the time.
Ms McGillivray, who is now 36, said she never reported the incident to the authorities.
But her companion that day, photographer Ken Davidoff, told the newspaper he remembers her pulling him aside moments afterwards and telling him: "Donald just grabbed my ass!"
Mr Trump's campaign said Ms McGillivray's allegation "lacks any merit or veracity".
All three women have said they support Hillary Clinton's campaign for president.
On Friday a 2005 video emerged which showed Mr Trump making obscene remarks about groping women.
He apologised for the comments, but described them as "locker-room talk".
Many top Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have distanced themselves in recent days from the businessman-turned-politician.
Mr Trump fired back in a string of tweets, saying the "shackles" had been removed.
He said he neither wanted nor needed Mr Ryan's support and vowed to teach "disloyal" Republicans "how to win".
A recent PRRI/Atlantic poll suggested Mrs Clinton holds a 49-38 lead over her opponent.
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