Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has found himself mired in a swamp of his own making.
The famous real estate mogul turned wannabe-world leader has been caught in one lie after another during the course of the current presidential campaign.
Most recently, Trump has found himself desperately trying to defend some truly indefensible language that he was caught using on a tape of himself with TV personality Billy Bush in 2005. The two men were on their way to the filming of a soap opera, and Trump began to brag about a married woman whom he “tried to f*ck.” He told his giggling companion that he often kissed and fondled women without their consent.
When CNN anchor and debate moderator Anderson Cooper asked the candidate during the second debate whether he had actually done the things he was describing, Trump said simply, “No. I have not.”
And therein lies the lie.
Jessica Leeds of Manhattan knows that Trump was lying, because he sexually assaulted her years ago on a flight to New York.
Ms. Leeds was a young businesswoman flying from the midwest back to New York. The stewardess asked her if she’d like to have her seat upgraded to first class. She readily agreed, sitting down next to a tall, blonde, young man who introduced himself as Donald Trump.
She didn’t know him, nor did she know much about his business or his reputation. She said that they chatted, and ate their meals.
Then she said:
“Somehow or another, the armrest in the seat disappeared, and it was a real shock when all of a sudden his hands were all over me. He started encroaching on my space and, I hesitate to use this expression, but I’m going to, and that is, he was like an octopus. It was like he had six arms. He was all over the place.”
She left out little detail about the assault, saying that if Trump had stuck to the “upper part of the body,” she might not have gotten quite so upset, but when he tried to lift her skirt, she said:
“That was it. That was it! I was out of there.”
Ms. Leeds said that she didn’t complain when it happened, because the culture of the time was that women were taught it was their fault when men behaved despicably.
She started to talk about her experience about 18 months ago, after realizing that Trump was serious about trying to become president. She hopes, she says now, that sharing her experience will help voters to understand the character of the man who wants to earn their trust.
Donald Trump lied on national television when he told Anderson Cooper that his comments about grabbing and groping unwilling women by the genitals was “locker room talk.”
He is a sexual predator. He knows it. Jessica Leeds knows it.
Now we all know it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmQhIlwyYw4
Featured image via YouTube Screengrab.
