Donald Trump Rejects Fresh Claims of Assault from Kristin Anderson and Summer Zervos
Donald Trump has rejected fresh claims of assault, saying they are part of a plot to damage his presidential campaign.
The Republican candidate told a rally in North Carolina on October 14: “It’s not hard to find a small handful of people willing to make false smears.”
Two new accusations came from an ex-Apprentice contestant who cited a 2007 incident and a woman who described a case from the early 1990s.
The latest polls suggest Donald Trump is losing ground in some of the key battleground states.
During the rally, Donald Trump said the accusations were “sick” and false, and driven by fame, money or politics.
“Or for the simple reason they want to stop our movement, they want to stop our campaign. Very simple,” he told the crowd.
The New York billionaire added: “These claims defy reason, truth, logic, common sense. They are made without supporting witnesses.
“When the media does what they’re doing now, that’s rigging the system… The election is rigged.”
Saying he was ignoring his own advisers by commenting on the allegations, Donald Trump suggested that he would never have been attracted to Jessica Leeds, one of this accusers.
“Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.”
Photo AP
One of the new allegations involves Kristin Anderson, who told the Washington Post Donald Trump touched her through her underwear at a Manhattan nightspot in the 1990s.
Kristin Anderson, now 46, said she was “very grossed out and weirded out”.
The publication said it had approached Kristin Anderson after learning of her story through a third party, and she had spent several days deciding whether to go public.
Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said in a statement emailed to the Washington Post: “Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, Summer Zervos, who was a contestant on season five of The Apprentice in 2006, said Donald Trump forced himself on her at a the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Summer Zervos, now 41, had been invited by Donald Trump to discuss job opportunities.
She told an emotional news conference in Los Angeles that she met Donald Trump in 2007 in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where the property mogul greeted her by kissing her on the mouth.
Summer Zervos said Donald Trump asked her to sit next to him on a sofa where he “grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast”.
She fought back tears as she said Donald Trump attempted to lead her into the bedroom, even as she fended off his advances.
Summer Zervos was flanked during the press conference by well-known lawyer Gloria Allred, who has previously represented alleged assault victims of entertainer Bill Cosby.
At the time of the alleged assault, Donald Trump was newly married to his third and current wife, Melania.
Summer Zervos said she was spurred to come forward after Donald Trump denied during October 9 presidential debate ever having committed assault.
Donald Trump rebutted the suggestion on national TV as he was asked about a leaked recording from 2005 in which he is heard bragging that he can force himself on women because he is a star.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s campaign presented a British man who disputed the account of Jessica Leeds, now 74. She alleged that when she was 38, Donald Trump groped her on a flight to New York, acting “like an octopus”.
The New York Post reported that Anthony Gilberthorpe contacted Donald Trump’s campaign to counter the claim.
In an interview with the paper Anthony Gilberthorpe said: “I was there, I was in a position to know that what she said was wrong, wrong, wrong.”