Late on Friday, the Trump campaign put forth the name of a supposed “witness” to the incident between Donald Trump and Jessica Leeds aboard a trans-continental flight out of New York City during 1980 or 1981, in which Ms. Leeds states that Trump was “like an octopus,” placing his hands all over her, including up her skirt. This witness, a Brit named Albert Gilberthorpe, says that he was the man sitting across the aisle from them, that he saw the entire thing, and that Trump did nothing improper. In fact, he claims that when Trump left to us the restroom, Ms. Leeds told him (Gilberthorpe), that she was going to marry Trump.
They provided this information to the New York Post, and arranged an interview of Mr. Gilberthorpe, now 54 years old, by the Post, which ran with the story. In what came as something of a revelation to me, however, even the Post sometimes does a little bit of actual journalism, and reported in its article that Gilberthorpe’s previous claim to fame included the following:
Gilberthorpe made headlines in 2014, when he went public with a claim that as a 17-year-old he procured boys (some who “could have been” underage”) for sex parties with high-ranking British politicians.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway then breathlessly Tweeted a link to the Post story. Perhaps, given Mr. Gilberthorpe’s previous link to scandal-related fame, she should have been a little cautious about doing so.
But that’s not the only interesting thing in Mr. Gilberthorpe’s background. The Huffington Post reported the following about the incident he described:
And speaking of excellent memories, here’s one the U.K. Mirror had in July 2014
Senior Tory cabinet ministers were supplied with underage boys for sex parties, it is sensationally claimed.
Former Conservative activist Anthony Gilberthorpe said he told Margaret Thatcher 25 years ago about what he had witnessed and gave her names of those involved.
His allegations that he saw top Tories having sex with boys comes after David Cameron launched a Government inquiry into claims of a cover-up.
Anthony, 52, said: “I am prepared to speak to the inquiry. I believe I am a key witness.”
Trawling seedy streets during a Tory conference, Gilberthorpe says he was asked to find underage rent boys for a private sex party at a top hotel.
And this wasn’t the only example of Mr. Gilberthorpe supposedly being in the vicinity of scandal. Talking Points Memo
Gilberthorpe was also the alleged tipster behind a sex scandal that led to the downfall of conservative British parliamentarian Piers Merchant’s career. Merchant, after he resigned, accused Gilberthorpe of setting up his affair with a 17-year-old hostess and leaking news of it to the Sunday Mirror, a British tabloid, in exchange for £25,000.
Hmm … I wonder how much Donald Trump or the Trump campaign paid him for his latest story. (I also wonder whether, if there was such a payment, it came from Trump’s personal money, his campaign, or the Trump Foundation.)
The website Heavy.com has nicely brought together these distinct threads, plus some additional facts. Among these are the fact that all of the politicians named in the Mirror article were conveniently dead, and thus unable to contradict Mr. Gilberthorpe’s version of events. In addition, Mr. Gilberthorpe once got a newspaper to report on his imaginary engagement to a non-existent fiancée. Most amazingly, Gilberthorpe’s “evidence” is what Mike Pence was referring to on his Friday morning TV appearance when he said that the Trump campaign was going to be providing proof later in the day that the charges against Trump are false.
Finally, there is the fact that at the time of the alleged incident between Trump and Ms. Leeds, Mr. Gilberthorpe would have been a roughly 18 year old Brit. What are odds that a British teenager would have been flying on a trans-continental flight in First Class, and that he would have JUST HAPPENED to have been seated across the aisle from a future U.S. Presidential candidate and a woman who is now accusing said candidate of sexual assault, and that said British teenager would have JUST HAPPENED to be the same person who, years later, had sought to raise money from peddling information to a newspaper about other sex scandals? And what are the odds that a woman who would have been in her early 40s at the time would have confided to a British teenager she didn’t even know that she intended to marry Donald Trump.
Either Anthony Gilberthorpe is the Forrest Gump of political sex scandals, or he is one of the most transparent liars in the world. Take your pick. But as one of the articles about him said, to paraphrase Donald Trump’s comment about one of his accusers, “he certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice” as a witness.