In total, about two dozen women have spoken out publicly to accuse Trump:
Jessica Leeds told The New York Times in 2016 that, in the late 1970s, Trump, who was a stranger to her, reached his hand up her skirt and grabbed her breasts on a flight to New York. She said he “was like an octopus” and his “hands were everywhere” before she fled to the back of the plane.
Ivana Trump, Trump’s first wife, accused him in a divorce deposition of raping her in a fit of rage in 1989, when they were married. She later said that she hadn’t meant in a “literal or criminal sense.”
Kristin Anderson, a photographer and former model, told The Washington Post in 2016 that Trump sat next to her at a nightclub in the early 1990s and reached under her skirt. Anderson said the incident lasted about 30 seconds, but she and her friends were “very grossed out and weirded out.”
Jill Harth, who worked with Trump in the 1990s, accused him of “attempted rape” in a 1997 complaint. She said that in 1993, Trump tried to kiss her in his daughter’s bedroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort, pushing her against a wall and putting his hand up her dress. She dropped the suit a few weeks after filing it, she said as part of a settlement with Trump in a separate breach of contract case, according to the Associated Press.
Lisa Boyne, a health food business entrepreneur, told HuffPost in 2016 that she attended a dinner with Trump in 1996 where several women were forced to walk across a table while Trump looked up their skirts and commented on their underwear and bodies. “It was the most offensive scene I’ve ever been a part of,” Boyne said.
Five former Miss Teen USA contestants told BuzzFeed News in 2016 that in 1997, Trump, the owner of the pageant at the time, unexpectedly walked into the contestants’ dressing room while they were changing, which they found inappropriate. Mariah Billado said she rushed to put on her dress and remembered him saying, “Don’t worry ladies, I’ve seen it all before.” Victoria Hughes said that it was “the most inappropriate time to meet us all for the first time. The youngest girl was 15, and I was the eldest at 19.” The other three women described a similar situation to BuzzFeed anonymously; however, 11 others said they did not recall seeing Trump in the dressing room at all.
In an April 2005 interview on The Howard Stern Show, when asked about Miss USA and Miss Universe, Trump said he would go backstage before beauty pageant shows, the only man in the room while the women were “standing there with no clothes.” As the owner, “I sort of get away with things like that,” he added. He was not asked about Miss Teen USA in this interview.
E. Jean Carroll, a writer, said Trump raped her in 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. Carroll wrote about the incident in her 2019 memoir called “What Do We Need Men For?” In May, Carroll was awarded $5 million after a jury held Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, though not rape.
Temple Taggart, former Miss Utah, told The New York Times in 2016 that Trump “kissed me directly on the lips” when he met her at the 1997 Miss USA pageant and again when she met with him in Manhattan after he offered to help with her modeling career. Taggart described the incident as “inappropriate” and said her first thought after he kissed her was, “Oh my God, gross.”
Cathy Heller told The Guardian in 2016 that Trump forcibly kissed her when she attended a Mother’s Day brunch at Mar-a-Lago in the 1990s. Heller said she was “angry and shaken” after the former president ignored her handshake, grabbed her and went for the lips and became angry when she tried to turn her head away.
Amy Dorris, a former model, said Trump forcibly kissed and groped her in his private box at the U.S. Open tennis championship in 1997. Dorris told The Guardian in 2020 that Trump “shoved his tongue down my throat” and “his hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything.”
Karena Virginia, a yoga instructor and life coach, told The Washington Post in 2016 that Trump groped her, unexpectedly wrapping his arm around her and touching her breast, in 1998 while she waited for a car outside the U.S. Open.
Karen Johnson, who was a regular at Mar-a-Lago, said Trump pulled her behind a tapestry to kiss and grope her during a New Year’s Eve party in the early 2000s. Johnson detailed the incident to journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy, who published it in their 2019 book, “All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator,” along with 42 other allegations of sexual misconduct.
Bridget Sullivan, another former Miss USA contestant, told BuzzFeed News in 2016 that she met Trump at a party promoting the competition, and he hugged her “a little low on your back” and gave “a squeeze that your creepy uncle would.” In a separate instance in 2000, Sullivan said, Trump walked backstage while many of the contestants were naked or getting dressed.
Tasha Dixon, a former Miss USA contestant, told CBS in 2016 that, in 2001, Trump walked into where she and other contestants were changing. Dixon said she thought Trump “owned the pageant for the reasons to utilize his power to get around beautiful women.”
Melinda McGillivray told the Palm Beach Post in 2016 that Trump grabbed her butt without her consent in 2003 when they were backstage at a Ray Charles concert at Mar-a-Lago.
Natasha Stoynoff, a former reporter for People magazine, wrote in 2016 that Trump sexually assaulted her in 2005 while she was visiting Mar-a-Lago to work on a story about his first year of marriage with Melania. When they were alone, Stoynoff said, Trump closed the door and pushed her against the wall before “forcing his tongue down my throat.”
Juliet Huddy, a former Fox News anchor, said on the “Mornin!!! With Bill Schulz” podcast in 2017 that Trump kissed her unexpectedly and without her consent in Trump Tower in the mid-2000s. Huddy said she “didn’t feel threatened” at the time but later realized she would’ve said no more clearly.
Rachel Crooks, a former receptionist at Trump Tower, told The New York Times in 2016 that Trump kissed her “directly on the mouth” without consent when she first met him in 2005.
Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant, told CNN in 2016 that when she competed in 2006, Trump personally inspected each contestant, looking at them from head to toe like “sexual objects,” which made her feel “the dirtiest I felt in my entire life.”
Ninni Laaksonen, a model and former Miss Finland, in 2016 told Ilta-Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, that Trump squeezed her butt in 2006 when they were backstage at the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Jessica Drake, an actor in adult films, accused Trump during a 2016 news conference of grabbing her, kissing her without her consent and offering her $10,000 to come to his penthouse hotel room in 2006.
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” told reporters at a 2016 news conference that Trump sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions in 2007. The first was when she met him and he kissed her on the lips. Later that year, Zervos said Trump grabbed her shoulder, kissed her “aggressively,” placed his hand on her breast and thrust himself on her before she was able to pull away and leave the room.
Cassandra Searles, a former Miss USA contestant, wrote in a 2016 Facebook post that Trump “continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room” when she competed in 2013.
Alva Johnson, a former campaign staff member, alleged in a 2019 lawsuit that Trump grabbed her hand and kissed her on the side of the mouth without her consent during a rally in 2016.
