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Women Restate Claims of Sexual Harassment by Trump, UN Ambassador Says 'They Should Be Heard'

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

These women are 3 of more than 16 who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct or assault.

Three women who accused Trump of sexual harassment and/or assault last year during his presidential campaign have restated their claims this morning on TODAY with Megyn Kelly.

Samantha Holvey, who was a contestant on Miss America in 2006; Jessica Leeds, who recounts Trump putting his hand up her skirt on a plane; and Rachel Crooks, a Trump Tower receptionist who remembers Trump kissing her on the mouth, all sat down with Kelly to reshare their stories again today.

Holvey explained in the segment: "It was heartbreaking last year. We're private citizens and for us to put ourselves out there to try and show America who this man is and how he views women, and for them to say 'Eh, we don't care,' it hurt." She recounts Trump entering the female-only backstage of the pageant and lining the women up to examine them, "looking me over like I was just a piece of meat. I was not a human being. I didn't have a brain, I didn't have a personality. I was just simply there for his pleasure. It left me feeling very gross, very dirty...It wasn't what I signed up for."

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Jessica Leeds recalled being sat next to Trump on a plane in the 1970s, where he allegedly assaulted her. "All of a sudden, he's all over me. Kissing and groping, and groping and kissing. When his hand started going up my skirt--I'm not a small person, I managed to wiggle out, stand up, grab my purse, and I went to the back of the airplane." Leeds stayed in the back of the plane until they'd landed and everyone else had disembarked, not wanting to run into Trump again. Years later, Leeds recalls, she ran into Trump at a fundraiser gala, where he saw her and called her a "C**t woman."

Rachel Crooks worked in Trump Tower and was kissed on the mouth by Trump near the elevators in 2006. These women are 3 of 16 plus who have now accused Trump of sexual misconduct or assault.

The White House sent this official response to TODAY: "These false claims, totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts, were addressed at length during last year's campaign, and the American people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory."

However, Nikki Haley, Trump's pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, commented on the allegations against the president on Sunday on CBS morning news, saying: "They should be heard, and they should be dealt with. I think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up."

You can take a look at the full segment on TODAY here, and we've included Leeds' clip below:

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