In a Friday “press convention” the place he took no questions from the media, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump mentioned that he couldn’t have presumably sexually assaulted Jessica Leeds over 4 a long time in the past as a result of “she wouldn’t have been the chosen one.”
In 2016, Leeds told the New York Occasions that Trump grabbed her breasts and caught his hand up her skirt whereas they had been seated subsequent to one another on a flight within the Nineteen Seventies.
On Friday, Trump went on a winding diatribe in opposition to Leeds, claiming that her allegations had been unfounded and he or she was motivated by politics. Trump repeated a number of occasions that he was well-known again then earlier than he took a short pause, showing to weigh his subsequent phrases.
“Frankly, I do know you’re going to say it’s a horrible factor to say,” Trump began. “However, it couldn’t have occurred, it didn’t occur, and he or she wouldn’t have been the chosen one. She wouldn’t have been the chosen one,” he continued. Eight years in the past, after Leeds got here ahead, Trump additionally attacked her look, saying, “Imagine me, she wouldn’t be my first selection.”
Trump was addressing a crowd at Trump Tower in New York Metropolis following arguments in his newest authorized case involving author E. Jean Carroll—who has testified that Trump raped her in a division retailer dressing room in 1996 and defamed her since by denying the accusations. Courts have sided with Carroll a number of occasions up to now couple of years, ruling that the previous president should pay his accuser nearly 90 million {dollars}.
Forward of Friday’s trial, Carroll posted on X, “I AM READY!!!!”
This time round, Trump’s authorized group is interesting one of many rulings, from final 12 months, which discovered him liable of the sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll. (The courtroom didn’t say Trump raped Carroll as a result of on the time New York regulation required vaginal penetration by a penis, not fingers, for a rape conviction—that regulation has since changed.)
Through the unique trial that Trump is interesting, Leeds and one other accuser, Natasha Stoynoff—who says Trump pushed her up in opposition to a wall and forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago property when she was on task for Folks journal in December 2005—testified in opposition to the previous president, hoping to determine a sample of habits.
Trump’s attorneys had been making an attempt to persuade the federal appeals courtroom that he deserves a brand new trial, with legal professional John Sauer arguing that it was a “quintessential he-said-she-said case” and was motivated by politics. The courtroom is unlikely to launch a verdict earlier than the November election.
On the identical day that his group was interesting within the Carroll case in New York, Trump obtained information about considered one of his different ongoing authorized battles. Choose Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s legal case in Manhattan—the one the place he was convicted of 34 felony prices for protecting up hush cash funds made to grownup movie star Stormy Daniels throughout his 2016 bid for workplace—introduced that Trump’s sentencing date can be postponed till November 26, after the presidential election.
This newest case surrounding the previous president’s alleged sexual misconduct comes as voting day creeps nearer and nearer—an election that’s poised to supply the largest gender divide in history, in line with some polling and professional evaluation.
A CBS Information/YouGov survey from August discovered that a lot of the divide amongst voters this 12 months has to do with gender. Girls had been extra prone to see Vice President Kamala Harris as somebody who “fights for individuals such as you,” whereas solely 29% of males mentioned that she would combat “so much” for individuals like them. Over 40% of males mentioned they believed Donald Trump would go to bat for them.
