On Friday, Donald Trump appeared in a New York courtroom for an appeals hearing in the E. Jean Carroll sex abuse case against him, but it was his remarks after that hearing that are now generating headlines. The former president spoke to reporters and "brought up a string of past allegations of other acts of sexual misconduct, potentially reminding voters of incidents that were little-known or forgotten"—in a move "startling even by Trump's combative standards," notes the AP.
"I'm running for president, and I have all these cases all of a sudden come," he said, surrounded by his legal team, at what had been billed as a press conference but which didn't allow for questions from reporters. Trump added: "And they're fake cases." The ex-commander in chief circled back to Carroll's case, calling it "Monica Lewinsky Part II" (a reference to the former White House intern's case against former President Bill Clinton) and once more denied he'd ever assaulted Carroll, effectively calling her a liar again—despite a jury finding him liable last year for defaming her with such statements. "Never met her" and "never touched her," Trump claimed, per CNN.
One of his comments in particular, however, drew special attention—and it wasn't about Carroll. In discussing the case of Jessica Leeds, a People reporter who alleges that Trump groped her on a plane in the '70s, Trump shook off those accusations and insinuated she wasn't his type, and therefore he wouldn't have assaulted her. "Think of the practicality of this: I'm famous, I'm in a plane, people are coming into the plane. And I'm looking at a woman, and I grab her and start kissing her and making out with her," he said. "What are the chances of that happening?" He then added, "And frankly—I know you're going to say it's a terrible thing to say—but it couldn't have happened, it didn't happen, and she would not have been the chosen one. She would not have been the chosen one." (More Donald Trump stories.)
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