Trump accusers describe alleged harassment in new documentary

  • 12/12/2017

Three women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behaviour have appeared on US television to reiterate their claims and call for some kind of reckoning.

The women appear in a new documentary short video about Mr Trump's accusers, called 16 Women and Donald Trump, from filmmaker Robert Greenwald.

The women called for the US Congress to conduct an ethics investigation of allegations against Mr Trump.

"I would like to see some reckoning, that he is not made of Teflon, that he acknowledges in some fashion and is called on to answer for the charges," Jessica Leeds said on Megyn Kelly Today.

During the presidential campaign, Ms Leeds told The New York Times that in the early 1980s, she was on a New York-bound flight and was seated in first class next to Mr Trump.

"All of the sudden he was all over me, kissing and groping," she said on Today.

Then, she said, he put his hand up her skirt, and "I managed to wiggle out. I grabbed my purse and went to the back of the airplane."

A couple of years later, when she saw Mr Trump at a Humane Society charity event and identified herself, he remembered her. He called her the "c" word, Ms Leeds told Today.

Samantha Holvey recounted her story of the 2006 Miss USA Pageant, which the Trump Organization owned at the time, and how Mr Trump would line up all of the contestants to look them over in what she described as a demeaning way. Ms Holvey, who was Miss North Carolina USA, said that she felt like "I was just a piece of meat."

At one point Mr Trump came backstage as the women competing were in the hair and makeup room, something that made them uncomfortable, Ms Holvey said. "He comes in like he owns the place and owns you," she said.

Also appearing on Today was Rachel Crooks, who also came forward during the campaign. She recounted her story of working as a receptionist for a company that had offices in Trump Tower.

She said that in 2005, having often spotted Mr Trump using a nearby elevator bank, she decided to introduce herself.

He gave her a double cheek kiss, but then kept kissing her. "He kissed me on the lips and I was shocked." She said she ran back and hid in her boss' office before calling her sister.

Mr Trump later came into the office and asked for her phone number, she said, and she asked, "What do you need that for?" Mr Trump told her he would pass it along to his modelling agency but they never called her.

The White House has dismissed the women's claims, and did so again on Monday.

Reuters