US: Two women accuse Trump of sexual assault

NEW YORK (AA) – Two women told the New York Times on Wednesday that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump groped.

The revelation comes days after the release of an audio recording where the nominee is heard making lewd comments about preying on and sexually assaulting women.

When he was asked at the second presidential debate Sunday whether he had done those things, Trump said: "No, I have not."

Jessica Leeds, 74, told the newspaper she felt being lied to when he heard Trump at the debate. “I wanted to punch the screen,” she said in an interview at her apartment in New York City, where Trump was born and built his business empire.

Leeds said more than three decades ago, she sat beside Trump -- whom she had seen for the first time -- on a first-class flight as she traveled as a businesswoman.

The real estate mogul grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt, Leeds told The Times, prompting her to flee to the back of the plane. “It was an assault,” she said.

Rachel Crookes was a 22-year-old receptionist working for a company located at the Trump Tower in Manhattan when she encountered Trump outside an elevator in 2005, she told the newspaper.

Crookes said she shook hands with Trump, who would not let go, but instead started to kiss her on the cheeks and then her mouth, which she said was intentional.

“It was so inappropriate,” Crooks said. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”

The Trump campaign rejected the allegations in a statement. “This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," it said.

The recording released last week has been damaging to the Republican Party’s efforts to recapture the Oval Office after two Democratic terms under Barack Obama.

After the scandal broke, Trump, who was closing in on Clinton in the polls and even achieved a short-lived dead heat, fell nearly 10 points behind his rival.

He has also suffered a loss of support from a number of high profile figures in his own party.