WASHINGTON • Several women have accused Mr Donald Trump of groping or kissing them without their consent, just days after the Republican presidential nominee insisted in a debate that he had never engaged in such behaviour.
One of the women alleged that Mr Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt during a flight more than three decades ago, the New York Times reported.
Another said he kissed her on the mouth outside a lift in 2005, according to the same report.
A third woman said Mr Trump groped her rear end at his Mar-a-Lago resort 13 years ago, the Palm Beach Post reported.
On Wednesday, the Rolling Stone published a story that included the allegations of Miss Washington 2013. In a comment she appended to a post she had put on Facebook earlier this year suggesting that Mr Trump treated pageant contestants "like cattle", Ms Cassandra Searles wrote: "He probably does not want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room."
The Trump campaign quickly fired back. In a statement issued by his campaign after the New York Times report was published, it said: "This entire article is fiction."
Trump spokesman Hope Hicks told the Palm Beach Post "there is no truth" to the third allegation.
Mr Trump himself also denied the first two allegations in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday.
The newspapers spoke to people close to the women - including friends, family members, significant others and colleagues - who verified that they had told these people their stories about what had happened months or years ago.
Also on Wednesday, CBS News reported about a clip filmed for Entertainment Tonight in 1992, in which Mr Trump is heard commenting about a young girl: "I'm going to be dating her in 10 years." The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
The allegations came five days after the Washington Post reported on a 2005 video in which Mr Trump can be heard making vulgar comments about physically forcing himself on women.
Ms Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, said the reports show that Mr Trump lied during his debate with Mrs Clinton on Sunday about not having forced himself on women.
Former Miss Utah Temple Taggart McDowell, who claimed Mr Trump kissed her on the lips when she was competing in his Miss Universe beauty pageant in 1997, told NBC on Wednesday: "I have a daughter now and it is really hard because you think of sending your little daughter out there with men like that who think like that."
Meanwhile, the Washington Post yesterday became the latest US newspaper to endorse Mrs Clinton for the White House.
"Hillary Clinton has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation," it wrote, adding: "No, we are not making this endorsement simply because Ms Clinton's chief opponent is dreadful."
WASHINGTON POST, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
