US: More women accuse Trump of sexual assault

NEW YORK

Two more women came forward Friday with claims of sexual assault against presidential candidate Donald Trump, who dismissed the allegations as a smear campaign.

The cliched "October surprise" has been more than realized since a 2005 video showed the Republican nominee making extremely vulgar remarks about preying on and groping women, followed by a New York Times story that gave voice to two women who accused Trump of touching them inappropriately.

The list of accusers was extended Friday with a former contestant on the reality television show, The Apprentice, where Trump starred for a decade, and a woman who described an encounter with the business mogul in the early 1990s.

During a rally in North Carolina, Trump rejected the accusations. "It's not hard to find a small handful of people willing to make false smears," he said.

"These claims defy reason, truth, logic, common sense. They are made without supporting witnesses," he added, calling the election "rigged".

Trump also made another controversial comment about one of his accusers from the Times story, Jessica Leeds. "Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you."

Kristin Anderson, who presented one of the two new allegations, told the Washington Post newspaper that Trump touched her through her underwear at a Manhattan nightsclub in the 1990s.

Summer Zervos, The Apprentice contestant in 2006, said the businessman forced himself on her at a Los Angeles hotel.

With sexual assault allegations mounting, polls suggest the Trump campaign is losing steam.

After the scandal broke, Trump, who was closing in on Clinton in the polls and even achieved a short-lived dead heat, fell nearly 10 points behind his rival.

On Thursday, first lady Michelle Obama delivered a strong rebuke of the candidate regarding the controversy. “I can’t believe I am saying that a candidate for president of the United States has actually bragged about sexually assaulting women,” she told a crowd in New Hampshire. “I cannot stop thinking about this.”