October 12, 2016, 07:44 pm
Trump camp: NYT story 'fiction,' 'trivializes sexual assault'
By Rebecca Savransky
Getty Images
Donald Trump's campaign on Wednesday disputed a New York Times article in which two women say the GOP nominee touched them inappropriately in the past.
“This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," Trump's senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.
"To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr. Trump trivializes sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."
In the statement, Miller calls it "absurd" to think "one of the most recognizable business leaders on the planet with a strong record of empowering women in his companies would do the things alleged in this story."
"And for this to only become public decades later in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all," he wrote.
"Further, the Times story buries the pro-Clinton financial and social media activity on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, reinforcing that this truly is nothing more than a political attack.
"This is a sad day for the Times."
The New York Times article published Wednesday tells the story of Jessica Leeds, who said more than three decades ago, Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt when the two were seated next to each other on a plane.
Rachel Crooks, who met Trump in 2005 when she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a company in Trump Tower in Manhattan, also told the Times that she introduced herself to the GOP nominee outside an elevator and shook his hand. Trump wouldn't let go and then began kissing her on the cheeks, and then he "kissed me directly on the mouth," she told the Times.
Other reports Wednesday — from Yahoo News and the Palm Beach Post — allege that Trump groped two other women, one at his Mar-a-Lago resort and the other during the Miss USA pageant.
The reports comes after the release of a 2005 tape in which Trump is heard making lewd comments about women.
On the tape, Trump describes how he could grope and kiss women without their consent because of his celebrity status. He has since brushed off his comments as locker room talk and denied doing the things he talked about in the tape.
Since the release of the tape, the GOP nominee has faced backlash from many Republicans. Some have rescinded their support of Trump and others have called for him to drop out of the race.
Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this week said he would no longer defend or campaign with Trump — but he did not rescind his endorsement of his party's nominee.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/300738-trump-camp-nytimes-story-fiction-trivializes-sexual
