Two women who have accused former President Trump of sexual assault have detailed their allegations in two political ads urging voters not to elect him to a second term.
A $250,000 ad campaign run by conservative lawyer George Conway's Anti-Psychopath PAC. Announced On Wednesday, the show ran two 60-second spots, one featuring former saleswoman and stockbroker Jessica Leeds talking about her experience and the other featuring former People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, both of whom publicly criticized the former president in 2016 – allegations that Trump denies.
The ads will air in Pennsylvania through Election Day and will target women on the Hallmark and Lifetime channels, according to the PAC.. The ad campaign will also target Republicans and independents on the streaming platform.
The effort is part of a $500,000 national campaign to “tell women's stories and remind swing voters of Trump's flawed character,” according to a press release.
In the first ad, Ms Leeds says she was on a plane in 1979 when a stewardess approached her just before take-off and invited her to join her in first class. She accepted, spotted Mr Trump in her window seat and introduced herself.
“The plane took off and all of a sudden Donald Trump started groping me,” Leeds said. “He tried to kiss me and I tried to push him away. He basically overpowered me.”
“When he started to put his hands under my skirt, I left my seat, grabbed my handbag and went back to my seat. I was really upset by the whole thing,” she continued.
Leeds said she ran into Trump and his wife at a fundraiser two years later.
“He looked at me and said, 'I remember you. You're that son of a bitch on the plane,'” Rees said in the ad.
“Donald Trump sees women as entertainment,” Leeds added. “He is a serial predator. He has made it clear that he does, he has done and he will continue to do so.”
In a second ad, Stoynoff says he visited Mar-a-Lago to interview Trump for People magazine in 2005. Trump's then-wife, former first lady Melania Trump, went upstairs to get changed and Trump told Stoynoff he wanted to show her “this beautiful painting, this beautiful room,” Stoynoff said.
“He took me into this room, pushed me against the wall and started forcefully kissing me,” Stoynoff said in the video.
“I tried to push him. He lunged at me. I was in shock and gasp. He had his hands on my shoulders,” Stoynoff said, reaching his hands out to his shoulders. “I felt sick and scared.”
Stoynoff said that as the butler came into the room, Trump turned to her and said, “You know we're going to have an affair, right?” She added, “Then Melania walked up to me. I was horrified.”
Ms Stoynoff said she blamed herself for the incident for years, but that all changed after the Access Hollywood tape was released in 2016, in which Mr Trump was heard bragging about being so star-struck he could grab a woman's genitals.
“I realized I wasn't to blame. He was just a predator of women,” Stoynoff said in the ad. “What would have happened if the butler hadn't come into the room? Donald Trump has been convicted of sexual assault. We cannot elect this man as our president.”
Stoynoff said his views changed after hearing the stories of women like fellow journalist E. Jean Carroll, who successfully claimed the former president raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. Stoynoff and Leeds testified at the trial in an attempt to show a pattern of sexual assault.
Trump was ultimately found liable for sexual assault and defamation and ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars by a New York jury – charges he denies and is appealing both cases.
The Pennsylvania ad campaign comes just days after Trump told women at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday, “I am your protector,” according to a press release from the Anti-Psychopath PAC.
According to the PAC, the goal of the ad campaign is two-fold: “First, to amplify traumatic stories to undecided voters across the country and remind them that a vote for Trump is a vote for a serial sexual predator; second, to galvanize the former president by confronting him with the impact of his actions and the lives he turned upside down as a result.”
Conway, who has become one of the most prominent conservative voices opposing President Trump in recent years, praised Stoynoff and Leeds for taking part in the ad.
“The truth can take decades to fully emerge,” Conway said in a statement. “Natasha, Jessica, and so many brave women like them have long shown us Donald Trump for who he really is: a malignant narcissist who abuses other human beings like they breathe.”
“It's time for Pennsylvania voters to listen and end his destructive forays into public life,” he continued.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the ad campaign.
Updated 1:59 p.m.
