Donald Trump on Friday called for a boycott of a People magazine issue featuring a former reporter who alleges he sexually assaulted her.
“I think maybe what we should do is boycott that issue of People magazine,” he told supporters during a rally in Charlotte, N.C.
{mosads}“The article appeared, and if it were true, they would have had to put it into that article,” the Republican presidential nominee said, referring to Natasha Stoynoff’s original article about his marriage to Melania. “But they didn’t for a simple reason – it didn’t happen 12 years ago.”
“Never complained, never talked to the bosses. Eyewitnesses have already debunked the wild and ludicrous allegations of a magazine article that appeared. It was just incredible.”
Stoynoff on Wednesday alleged Trump pushed her against the wall and forcibly kissed her in December 2005.
She said the incident occurred while she was interviewing the Trumps during a tour of the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump on Friday cast doubt on Stoynoff and the several other women now accusing him of sexual misconduct.
“I’ve met thousands and thousands and thousands of people, know them, know them well,” he said. “These claims defy logic, truth, reason, common sense.
“It’s not hard to find a small handful of people willing to make false smears for personal fame, who knows, maybe for financial reasons, political purposes, or the simple reason they want to stop our movement, they want to stop our campaign.”
People magazine is standing by Stoynoff’s account, with editor in chief Jess Cagle on Thursday accusing Trump of “a disgusting, pathetic attempt to victimize her again.”
Multiple women this week have accused Trump of groping or kissing them without consent in the years before he ran for president.
The allegations began piling up after the emergence of an audio recording one week ago featuring Trump bragging about kissing and groping women without consent because he’s a celebrity.