Jessica Leeds said she believes she was used to “entertain” Donald Trump on the flight where the incident occurred. | Getty Trump accuser: He kissed me ‘wherever he could find a landing spot’

A woman who has accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her went on camera on Thursday to say that his “hands were everywhere” as he forcibly kissed her during a flight to New York in 1979.

Jessica Leeds, whose allegations against Trump were first reported by The New York Times on Wednesday, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper she believes she was used to “entertain” Trump on the flight where the incident occurred.


Leeds described being promoted to first-class while on a business trip and being seated next to Trump, a stranger to her at the time. According to Leeds, the two proceeded to talk, and though she says she was not “flirting” with Trump, the tenor of the interaction shifted dramatically following their on-flight meal.

“It was like suddenly he's like encroaching on my side of the seat, reaching on my side of the seat and his hands were everywhere,” Leeds told CNN. “He was grabbing my breasts and trying to turn me towards him, and kissing me. And then after a bit, that is when his hands starting going – I was wearing a skirt, and his hands starting going towards my knee and up my skirt.”

Asked by Cooper where Trump forcibly kissed her, she replied, “Wherever he could find a landing spot.”

Leeds said the incident likely spanned 15 minutes, and though visible to those surrounding them on the flight, no one intervened.

Asked why she did not speak up about the incident at the time, Leeds said she feared losing her job.

“Remember the time and the place,” said Leeds, 74, a former traveling businesswoman who worked for a paper company at the time. “I felt fortunate to have this job. I was being paid very well.”

She added: “It was a man's job and I got it because the company wanted a token woman. And I was delighted to be that.”

Leeds, who in the Times piece described the incident as “assault,” said she was moved to speak out about the encounter after watching Trump deny during Sunday's presidential debate that he had ever groped women.

“I literally wanted to throw something at the TV or punch my hand in the TV,” she said. “And that was Sunday night. And Monday morning I found myself writing an e-mail, a letter to the editor to the Times.”

Trump has vociferously denied the allegations by Leeds and other women who have said he touched them inappropriately.

“The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on woman. WATCH!” Trump tweeted Thursday morning.

At an afternoon rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said the allegations "nothing more than false smears,” “these claims are all fabricated” and “these events never, ever happened.”

Trump called his female accusers "liars" and insinuated that they weren't attractive enough to warrant groping. “You take a look at these people," he said, "and you’ll understand also.”

Trump also threatened to release "evidence" that would disprove the women's stories.

“We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon," he said.