Trump had ‘40 zillion hands’ during alleged groping attack, called accuser a ‘c-nt’ on 2nd meeting: testimony
Donald Trump accuser Jessica Leeds told a jury Tuesday it felt like the former president had “40 zillion hands” when he allegedly groped her on a plane in the late 1970s.
Leeds — who first came forward with her allegations during the 2016 presidential election — took the stand in Manhattan federal court to testify on behalf of E. Jean Carroll in the former New York Magazine advice columnist’s rape lawsuit against Trump, 76.
“We were sitting there and all of a sudden Trump decided to kiss me and grope me,” Leeds, 81, testified about the alleged incident on a flight to New York around 1979.
Leeds said she and Trump got into a “tussle” that lasted for seconds.
“He was trying to kiss me and trying to pull me,” Leeds testified. “He was grabbing my breasts. It’s like he had 40 zillion hands.”
A flight attendant had invited her to sit in first class, where “the gentleman sitting by the window introduced himself as Donald Trump,” she recalled.
The pair had a bit of “chit-chat,” Leeds told the jury in the ongoing trial over Carroll’s suit against the former commander-in-chief.
Then Trump allegedly groped her “out of the blue,” Leeds testified.
“It was when he started putting his hand up my skirt that kind of gave me a jolt of strength and I managed to wriggle out of the seat and I went storming back to my seat in coach,” Leeds said on the stand.
She said while the incident only lasted seconds, “it seemed like forever.”
Leeds said she wondered what people around her were thinking seeing the struggle and she wondered why no one helped her.
“The guy sitting beside me, his eyes were like saucers,” Leeds recounted. “I remember thinking, ‘Where is the stewardess and why doesn’t somebody come and help me.’ I realized no one was going to help me and I had to do it myself.
“That’s when I got the strength to get up and get out,” she said.
A few years later, in 1981, when Trump — accompanied by then-wife Ivana Trump — ran into Leeds at a charity gala, he said, “I remember you,” Leeds testified. “You’re that c–t woman from the airplane.”
“It was like a bucket of cold water was dumped on me,” Leeds said.
Leeds didn’t come forward with her accusations until October 2016 following a presidential debate where Trump was confronted with a 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording of himself saying he grabbed women by the genitals and they let him because he’s a star.
“I was embarrassed by [the tape], but I have tremendous respect for women and women have respect for me,” Trump said at the time.
Leeds said that following the debate, she decided to go to the New York Times with her accusations.
“After the debate where Trump denied that he had been aggressive toward women, I was so angry I couldn’t sleep,” Leeds said in court Tuesday. “I was furious because he was lying.”
After Leeds came forward, Trump said he was being “viciously attacked with lies and smears.”
Leeds was called by Carroll’s team presumably to show jurors that Trump has a history of sexual misconduct and give more credibility to Carroll’s account.
Carroll, 79, claims that Trump, 76, raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room most likely in 1996 and then defamed her by denying that the incident happened, denying knowing her and calling the accusations a “hoax.”
Earlier Tuesday, Carroll’s longtime friend testified about receiving a call from the “Ask E. Jean” writer minutes after the alleged attack.
Trump denies the allegations.
