Jessica Leeds: 5 unknown facts about woman accusing Donald Trump of 'grabbing' her breasts
On May 2, Jessica Leeds, a business woman, took the stand in the E Jean Carroll trial to testify against former President Donald Trump, who is at the center of a civil battery and defamation lawsuit brought against him by Carroll.
Leeds told a Manhattan federal court, "He was trying to kiss me, grabbing my breasts." In her lawsuit, Carroll has claimed that Trump’s repeated denial and subsequent disparaging remarks besmirched her character and led to her dismissal from Elle.
Jessica Leeds’ testimony, alongside other women, will supposedly lend support to Carroll’s claims in the case against Trump, who has denied all allegations of sexual assault. Let's dig inside some unknown facts about Trump's second accuser.
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Early years
Jessica Leeds, who is originally from Springfield, Missouri and the daughter of an Oscar Mayer cattle buyer and the executive secretary to the city manager, was based in Connecticut at the time of the assault and worked as a travelling salesperson for a company that supplied paper to other businesses.
Another accuser of the Trump case
Jessica Leeds is a businesswoman who has said the former president attacked her on a flight from Dallas or Atlanta to New York in 1978 or 1979, when she was 37.
She was a traveling saleswoman at the time of the alleged assault in 1979. While on a flight to LaGuardia Airport, she was bumped from economy to first class and sat next to Trump. After chatting and having lunch together, Leeds alleges that Trump started groping her. She said it was "like he had 40 zillion hands."
A user wrote on Twitter, "Jessica Leeds testified in the E Jean Carroll trial today, recalling Trump sexually assaulting her on flight in late 1970s, and several years later seeing him at fundraising dinner where he recognized her and called her 'the cunt from the airplane'".
Jessica Leeds testified in the E. Jean Carroll trial today, recalling Trump sexually assaulting her on flight in late 1970s, and several years later seeing him at fundraising dinner where he recognized her and called her "the cunt from the airplane." https://t.co/ujTHfcPZxW
— JOSH RUSSELL (@jruss_jruss) May 2, 2023
''C**t from the airplane''
According to Daily Mail, Leeds told the court that two years later, when she was working at a gala in New York City she ran into attendees Trump and his then-wife Ivana, who was pregnant at the time, Trump recognized her, saying: "I remember you, you're that c**t from the airplane."
Her first meeting with E Jean Carroll
She and Carroll met for the first time in 2019 when Carroll conducted a series of interviews for The Atlantic with women who have alleged sexual assault by Trump, she said in the court. Leeds described the two as acquaintances.
He was 'bored'
According to Daily Mail, Leeds laughed as the court was played a video of Trump saying at a rally she would 'not be my first choice.'
She said that it showed he 'couldn't imagine making a pass at a 78-year-old woman' which was her age at the time. When asked why she thought Trump did it, she said it was because he was 'bored.'