More controversy for Donald Trump’s campaign as two women claim he touched them inappropriately
The latest scandal engulfing Donald Trump's White House bid has intensified after two women told the New York Times the Republican presidential nominee touched them inappropriately.
One woman, 74-year-old Jessica Leeds, said Trump grabbed her breasts and attempted to grope her on a flight three decades ago, while another, then 22-year-old Trump Towers receptionish Rachel Crooks, said the nominee kissed her against her will in 2005.
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"He was like an octopus… his hands were everywhere," Leeds told the US newspaper.
Trump's campaign denied the accusations, saying "this entire article is fiction" and that the New York Times was launching a "completely false, coordinated character assassination".
The billionaire tycoon-turned-politician has spent the last week trying to recover from the latest scandal to hit his campaign, after a 2005 video was leaked by the Washington Post in which Trump talked about groping women against their will.
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His Democratic rival in the White House race, Hillary Clinton, has surged ahead in the polls since the video leaked and Trump was forced to defend himself during the second presidential debate on Sunday.
Although he apologised in a 90-second video on Saturday morning, several prominent Republicans (including former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice and Jeb Bush) have publicly criticised him and there has been outcry over his dismissal of the comments as "locker room talk".
The two presidential candidates will go head-to-head in a third presidential debate on Wednesday next week.