Donald Trump on Thursday said new sexual assault allegations against him are part of a “coordinated and vicious attack” while lashing out at his accusers and promising that his campaign will soon produce evidence showing the claims are untrue.
“These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false,” Trump said during a rally in Florida.
“These claims are all fabricated. They’re all fiction and they’re outright lies. These events never ever, ever happened,” he added.
The Republican presidential candidate said he is “preparing” a lawsuit against the New York Times after the paper on Wednesday reported the stories of two women who say Trump grabbed or kissed them inappropriately. The Palm Beach Post and People magazine also reported on women who said they were assaulted by Trump.
He called his accusers “horrible, horrible liars.”
The Times declined the Trump campaign’s request to remove the article and issue an apology. NBC News has not independently confirmed the allegations.
The real estate mogul suggested the reports are an attempt by the media and Hillary Clinton’s campaign to overshadow the Wikilieaks release of hacked emails from some of Clinton’s top aides. He also questioned why the women were coming out now, just weeks before Election Day.
Two women told the Times they were motivated to come forward after Trump denied having ever groped women following the release of a 2005 video in which he talks about inappropriately touching females.
Trump claims the women have no witnesses and that he will soon provide evidence the claims against him are false.
“They knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me,” Trump said of his political opponents. “But I never knew, as bad as it would be, I never knew that it would be this vile.”
