Multiple Women Repeat Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Trump

From+left%3A+Rachel+Crooks%2C+Jessica+Leeds%2C+and+Samantha+Holvey+on+Monday%2C+December+11th+

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

From left: Rachel Crooks, Jessica Leeds, and Samantha Holvey on Monday, December 11th

The #MeToo movement has reached President’s Trump’s doors recently, as multiple women who came forward during the 2016 presidential campaign have reasserted their allegations against Trump. Rachel Crooks, Jessica Leeds, and Samantha Holvey appeared on Megyn Kelly’s NBC show for an interview and later held a news conference, where they called for Congress to investigate their claims.

The three women are hoping that the new climate of exposing sexual harassment brought on by the #MeToo movement will reinvigorate their stories and call for action against Trump. In the past few months, powerful men have been disgraced by sexual harassment allegations. This shows society’s changing attitudes about the need to hold men accountable for their actions. The women said they were frustrated that their stories did not have a bigger impact on the 2016 election, and they hope they will be taken more seriously this time around.

Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant in the pageant that Donald Trump used to own, repeated her accusation that Trump walked in on the teenage contestants in the changing room. Jessica Leeds claimed that Trump groped and kissed her without consent during an airline flight in the 1970s, and Rachel Crooks accused Trump of kissing her repeatedly outside her office in the Trump tower. The women first came forward in October 2016 after the Access Hollywood Tape came out.

While men such as Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and Al Franken have been fired or resigned from their jobs amid their sexual harassment allegations, Donald Trump has been seemingly untouched by the allegations against him.

On Monday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), joined other Democratic lawmakers by calling on Trump to resign amid his nineteen sexual assault allegations. “President Trump has committed assualt, according to these women, and those are very credible allegations of misconduct and criminal activity, and he should be fully investigated and he should resign”. Gillibrand also called Congress to investigate the claims against Trump by holding hearings.

Trump responded to Senator Gillibrand’s statement on Twitter, saying: “Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!”

White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, disputed the claims against Trump on Monday: “The president has directly responded and said that these allegations are false and that’s what I’m doing in relaying that information to you”.

Sanders also claimed that voters have already made the decision on whether or not to investigate because Trump won the election, saying that “the people of this country, at a decisive election, supported President Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process”.

It is unclear if the allegations against Trump will further affect his presidency.