Who is Jessica Leeds? Trump airplane-assault accuser considering suing ‘sexual predator’, launches appeal to US voters
Jessica Leeds called Donald Trump “a sexual predator” after his “chosen one” remarks against her. She informed she is considering filing a lawsuit against him.
Donald Trump intends the world to know that he would never have sexually abused Jessica Leeds, who accused the former president of assault and was a trial witness in a high-profile case against him.
“She would not have been the chosen one,” he told reporters during a press conference on Friday at Trump Tower in Manhattan, giving the impression that she didn't look well enough.
Leeds was among the first female accusers of Trump's sexual assault during the 2016 presidential campaign. She claimed that in the 1970s, she was sitting next to Trump in first class on an airplane when he started making inappropriate advances. Leeds claimed that she made her way to the back of the aircraft after resisting Trump.
Leeds responded to the GOP presidential candidate's comments in a press conference outside Trump Tower on Monday. She referred to him as “a sexual predator” and stated she is considering filing a lawsuit against him.
Speaking to reporters on Fifth Avenue, she said, “He assaulted me 50 years ago and he continues to attack me today.” Leeds termed Trump's “chosen one” remarks “really bizarre.”
She admitted, “I must admit, I did laugh,” when she heard the comment. “It's a little spooky and a little difficult to process. He does seem to be kind of obsessed. But here I am.”
Who is Jessica Leeds?
Leeds accused Trump of touching her inappropriately as they were seated next to each other in first class cabin on a flight in 1979.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, she made her first public accusations against Trump, telling The New York Times that he groped her when they were seated next to each other on a flight to New York.
Leeds provided the most detail about her account when she testified in federal court in Manhattan in the spring of 2023. This was in connection with the writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit for slander and sexual abuse.
“He was grabbing my breasts,” she testified at Manhattan trial. “It's like he had 40 zillion hands, and it was a tussling match between the two of us.”
Leeds, a businesswoman at that point, said that she encountered Trump at a charity event around two years later.
“He said, 'I remember you. You're that cunt from the airplane,'” Leeds told the Carroll jury, referring to his interaction with Trump. “Well, it was like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over my head.”
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Jessica Leeds urges Americans to not vote for Trump
Leeds told reporters she is holding a press conference "because I believe it's important to remind voters."
Recalling the flight encounter, she said, “All of a sudden, this man started grabbing me and trying to kiss me. He had 47 arms like an octopus.”
According to her, she moved away from ger seat when Trump “decided to put his hand up my skirt”.
Leeds stated during the press conference on Monday that she first came out with her allegations in order to correct the record after Trump refuted allegations of sexual assault against women during a presidential debate. Ahead of the 2024 election, she pleaded with Americans not to support Trump, stressing that “We just cannot allow this person back into the White House.”
Trump's denial of her testimony on Friday would have opened a new opportunity for a defamation lawsuit.
She told reporters that she is thinking about “a lot of options” because of his latest remarks. She, however, added, that “no decision” has been made yet.