Trump threatens to sue New York Times over new groping allegations

Following new allegations of sexual assault aimed at Donald Trump by women, the millionaire presidential candidate is threatening the New York Times for publishing them.

In a “demand for retraction,” Trump lawyer Marc E. Kasowitz writes that the article is “reckless, defamatory and constitutes libel per se” and “nothing more than a politically-motivated effort.”

The Guardian tallies the new allegations.

• Two women, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks, told the New York Times that Trump groped or kissed them without consent.
• Another woman, Mindy McGillivray, claimed she was groped by the Republican nominee at a Trump foundation event at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida.
• Natasha Stoynoff, a reporter for People magazine, who said Trump forced himself on her shortly before she was due to interview him and his wife in 2005.
• Two Miss USA contestants claimed Trump deliberately walked in on them when they were naked in a dressing room. Five Miss Teen USA contestants also told Buzzfeed he had entered their dressing room while the young women – aged between 15 and 19 – were getting changed.
• A recording emerged in which Trump appears to sexualise a 10-year-old girl, with a video recording him saying of the child: “I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?”

In separate recordings that emerged in the past week, Trump himself told Howard Stern in 2005 that he did in fact go backstage when contestants were undressing:

Trump’s election campaign appears to be falling apart. A recording of him boasting about groping women, and two dismal debate performances, have seen him slump in the polls as his party vacillates over ditching him to save itself.