As the reckoning continues on sexual harassment, NBC News will be airing a live TV interview with three women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct Monday.
Anchor Megyn Kelly will conduct the interview, which will air on her eponymous show, “Megyn Kelly TODAY,” at 9 a.m. ET. She will be speaking with Jessica Leeds, Rachel Crooks, and Samantha Holvey, all of whom have publicly alleged that the president sexually harassed them. Trump has denied their allegations.
Jessica Leeds
In October 2016, Jessica Leeds detailed a 1980s encounter with Trump to The New York Times. She said that while seated next to Trump during a flight, he “lifted the armrest and began to touch her.” According to her account, he then “grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.” Leeds said that “he was like an octopus,” and called the encounter an assault.
Rachel Crooks
Rachel Crooks also came forward to the Times last October. In 2005, Crooks worked as a receptionist at Bayrock Group, a company that did business with Trump. Upon encountering him in Trump Tower one day, she introduced herself, at which time “they shook hands, but Mr. Trump would not let go.” Crooks claimed that instead he “began kissing her cheeks,” and then kissed her “directly on the mouth.” Crooks told the Times that it felt like a “violation,” not an accident.
https://twitter.com/MegynTODAY/status/940233035693379584
Samantha Holvey
Samantha Holvey, a 2006 Miss USA contestant, told CNN in October last year that Trump “personally inspected each woman” before the pageant. She said that Trump would “step in front of each girl and look you over from head to toe like we were just meat, we were just sexual objects, that we were not people.” The inspections reportedly made Holvey feel “the dirtiest [she] felt in [her] entire life.”
At least 19 women have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct to date. In addition to the three who plan to share their stories with Kelly on Monday, 16 accusers will be joining a press conference hosted by Brave New Films at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. According to a tweet from the filmmakers, the women will “share firsthand accounts of sexual misconduct by Trump and demand an investigation.”
Kelly’s segment with Trump’s accusers aired after a delay due to NBC’s coverage of the explosion at Port Authority.