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New York: Donald Trump was accused of sexual assault by a second woman in writer E Jean Carroll’s civil rape case, with the alleged victim telling the court he was all over her “like he had a zillion hands”.
Jessica Leeds, 81, told jurors in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday (US time) that the former US president grabbed her chest and ran his hand up her skirt as they sat side-by-side on a New York City-bound jet in the 1970s.
Trump accuser Jessica Leeds testifies in support of writer E. Jean Carroll in Manhattan on Tuesday. Video of Donald Trump is seen on a screen during the hearing.Credit: AP
In stunning testimony on the second week of the trial, Leeds, a former stockbroker who was a travelling saleswoman at the time, claimed the attack occurred after she was upgraded to first class.
The real estate mogul introduced himself, but Leeds, who was in her 30s, said she did not know who he was at the time.
“There was no conversation. It was out of the blue,” Leeds said.
“He was trying to pull me towards him. He was grabbing my breasts … It was like he had 50 zillion hands. It was a tussling match between the two of us. It was when he started putting his hand up my skirt that kind of gave me a jolt of strength and I managed to wiggle out of the seat and I went back to my seat” in coach, she said, adding that no one came to her rescue.
Jessica Leeds leaves the federal courthouse after testifying in writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against Donald Trump.Credit: AP
She did not report it to the airline, the police or her boss because, she told the court, it was an era when “women didn’t complain about things in the workplace”.
Carroll’s lawyers called Leeds to the witness stand in an attempt to show that Trump has a history of assaulting women and that Carroll’s claims of being raped by him at a department store were part of a pattern, not a one-off incident. Another woman is expected to testify at the trial that she too was victimised by Trump.
Though these are civil proceedings and not a criminal trial, the stakes are still high for Trump, who is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2024 election. If Carroll is successful, it would be the first time he is held legally responsible for sexual assault, after more than two dozen such allegations have been made against him.
The 76-year-old has repeatedly denied the women’s claims, while branding them as not his type or not beautiful enough. He contends the allegations are politically motivated attempts to smear his reputation and deny him the White House.
Accuser E Jean Carroll and former president Donald Trump.Credit: .
Trump used similar language in denying Leeds’ allegations, telling supporters at a 2016 rally, “Believe me, she would not be my first choice”.
Leeds first went public with her account of the alleged aeroplane assault in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign, telling jurors that she decided to do so because she was “furious” about Trump’s claim at a debate that he had never touched women against their will.
Former magazine columnist Carroll, 79, alleges that Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store changing room in 1996, then attempted to “destroy her” by accusing her of lying when she went public years later.
Her legal team on Tuesday called a longtime friend to back up claims she told others about the alleged attack at the time.
Lisa Birnbach testified that an emotional and hyperventilating Carroll telephoned her minutes after her encounter with Trump to report what occurred.
“E Jean said to me many times, ‘He pulled down my tights, he pulled down my tights,’ almost like she couldn’t believe it,” Birnbach testified about the call. She described how Carroll told her that Trump penetrated her.
She said she told Carroll that she had been raped and urged her to go to the police, but Carroll refused, leading them to argue before Birnbach agreed never to speak of it again.
Birnbach testified that they did not discuss what was shared on that phone call until 2019 when Carroll went public with her allegations.
“I’m here because I’m her friend, and I want the world to know that she was telling the truth,” she said from the witness stand.
The trial continues.
The Telegraph, London
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