'Trump Groped Me On Flight, Put His Hand Up My Skirt', Woman Reveals In US Court

On Tuesday, a woman testified in a civil trial in New York that Donald Trump had sexually attacked her on an American flight in the late 1970s.

AP

What she said in her testimony?

In her testimony for the writer E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation case against the former president, Jessica Leeds described the alleged assault. Leeds testified in federal court in Manhattan that Trump had his hand up her skirt while they were travelling in business class on a trip to New York in 1978 or 1979.

"He was trying to kiss me, grabbing my breasts," Leeds, now 81, said, adding that "there was no conversation; it was like out of the blue".

Leeds first made the allegation in an interview with the New York Times weeks before the 2016 election that sent Trump to the White House. At the time, she said she decided to come out with her story decades later after seeing Trump deny sexual assault allegations during a presidential debate with Hillary Clinton.

"I was furious because he was lying," Leeds recalled. To persuade the nine-person jury that Trump has participated in a history of sexual misconduct, Carroll's attorneys brought Leeds to testify.

leeds

What happened in the 1970s?

According to Leeds, she was 38 when she happened to be on the same flight as Trump. She was seated in coach, but a flight attendant invited her to take an empty seat in first class, she told The Times. The seat in business class was next to Trump's.

Trump introduced himself and shook her hand, and they exchanged pleasantries. Trump then asked Leeds if she was married, and she told him she was divorced.

Leeds said that Trump raised the armrest between them, moved towards her and began to grope her. She recoiled, quickly left the first-class cabin, and returned to coach, Leeds recounted.

Trump has vehemently and repeatedly refuted any charges of sexual assault, and he has never faced legal action due to any such allegations.

leeds-now

What is the current lawsuit about?

Carroll, 79, has filed a lawsuit against Trump, claiming that in the middle of the 1990s, he sexually attacked her in a changing room at the upscale Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. She further asserts that after she made the accusation public in 2019, Trump slandered her by calling her "a complete con job."

About a dozen women came forward accusing Trump of sexual misconduct in the run-up to the vote.

Carroll filed her lawsuit late last year after a law took effect in New York that gave victims of sexual assault a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers decades after attacks may have occurred. The suit seeks unspecified damages and asks that Trump retract his comments.

carroll

No criminal prosecution can stem from Carroll's civil case, but if Trump loses, it will be the first time he has ever been held legally liable over an allegation of sexual assault. The case is one of several legal challenges facing Trump as the 76-year-old Republican seeks a return to the White House in next year's election.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.