ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

The 23 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct

Trump with 2012 Miss Universe, Miss Teen USA, and Miss USA.
  • At least 23 women have accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct between the 1970s and 2016.
  • Renewed attention has been brought to the allegations amid the #MeToo movement and a national conversation concerning sexual misconduct.
  • Trump continues to deny all of the accusations, calling the women "liars."

President Donald Trump said during a press conference in September 2018 that his view of the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is "absolutely" influenced by the multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment that have been made against him.

The president said these "false allegations" against him were made by "women who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me." And then alleged that the "mainstream media" refused to report on evidence that the accusations were made up.

As a national conversation on sexual misconductis gripping the country from Hollywood to Capitol Hill , some renewed attention has been focused on the sexual misconduct allegations that at least 23 women have made against Trump between the 1970s and 2016.

A deluge of women made their accusations public following the October 2016 release of the "Access Hollywood" tape , in which Trump was recorded boasting about grabbing women's genitals in 2005. Some others made their stories public months before the tape's release, and still others came forward as recently as December.

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump has dismissed all of the allegations which include ogling, harassment, groping, and rape as "fabricated" and politically motivated accounts pushed by the media and his political opponents, and promised to sue all of his accusers . In some cases, he and his lawyer have suggested that Trump didn't engage in the alleged behavior with a certain woman because she was not attractive enough.

"Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign," the Republican nominee said during a 2016 rally . "Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over."

Trump has not yet made good on his promise to sue any of the women although one, Summer Zervos, has sued him for defamation after he called all of his accusers liars and the White House says that Trump's election proves the American people don't consider the allegations disqualifying.

"The people of this country, at a decisive election, supported President Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on December 11, after several of the president's accusers appeared on national television to rehash their allegations.

But despite Trump's denials, 50% of voters 59% of women and 41% of men surveyed in a Quinnipiac poll released December 19 think the president shouldresign as a result of the sexual misconduct allegations against him. Several Democratic lawmakers have recently called on Trump to resign over the accusations.

ADVERTISEMENT

One accuser, Samantha Holvey, who recently spoke out again about her experience with Trump as a Miss USA pageant contestant, said that while his election was painful, she and others see the #MeToo movement as an opportunity to "try round two."

"We're private citizens, and for us to put ourselves out there to try and show America who this man is and especially how he views women, and for them to say 'meh, we don't care' it hurts," Holvey said on NBC News' "Megyn Kelly Today" in December. "And so now it's just like, all right, let's try round two. The environment's different. Let's try again."

ADVERTISEMENT

NBC News

Allegations:

Jessica Leeds told the New York Times in October 2016 that Trump reached his hand up her skirt and groped her while seated next to her on a flight in the late 1970s.

"He was like an octopus. His hands were everywhere," Leeds said, adding that she fled to the back of the plane.

During an interview on NBC News' "Megyn Kelly Today" in December, Leeds added that shewas at a gala in New York three years after the incident on the plane when she ran into Trump, who recognized her and called her a c---.

ADVERTISEMENT

"He called me the worst name ever," she said. "It was shocking. It was like a bucket of cold water being thrown over me."

Trump's response:

Trump denied the allegations and during a rally in October 2016, suggested that Leeds wasn't attractive enough for him to assault.

"People that are willing to say, 'Oh, I was with Donald Trump in 1980, I was sitting with him on an airplane, and he went after me,'" Trump said. "Believe me, she would not be my first choice."

ADVERTISEMENT

Reuters

Allegations:

In a 1990 divorce deposition, Trump's first wife and the mother of his three eldest children Ivana Trump accused her then-husband of raping her in a fit of rage in 1989.

Ivana said Trump attacked her after he underwent a painful "scalp reduction" procedure done by a doctor she had recommended, tearing her clothes and yanking out a chunk of her hair.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than 16 months. Ivana is terrified It is a violent assault," Harry Hurt III, who obtained a copy of the deposition, wrote in a 1993 book about Trump . "According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, 'he raped me.'"

Ivana later slightly altered her allegation, saying that while she felt "violated" on that occasion, she hadn't accused Trump of raping her "in a literal or criminal sense."

"[O]n one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage," Ivana wrote in a 1993 statement. "As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a 'rape,' but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense."

Ivana is mother to Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka Trump.

Trump's response:

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump called Hurt's description of Ivana's allegation "obviously false" in 1993, according toNewsday. Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, argued in 2015 that his client could not have raped Ivana because "you cannot rape your spouse."

"There's very clear case law," he said.

Cohen later recanted , saying his comment was "inarticulate."

ADVERTISEMENT

Screenshot/Washington Post

Allegations:

Kristin Anderson, a photographer and former model saidTrump reached under her skirt and touched her vagina through her underwear at a New York City nightclub in the early 1990s .

Anderson, then in her early 20s, said she wasn't talking with Trump at the time and didn't realize he was sitting next to her when he groped her without her consent.

"So, the person on my right who, unbeknownst to me at that time was Donald Trump, put their hand up my skirt. He did touch my vagina through my underwear, absolutely. And as I pushed the hand away and I got up and I turned around and I see these eyebrows, very distinct eyebrows, of Donald Trump," she told The Washington Post in October 2016 .

ADVERTISEMENT

Anderson said she and her friends, who were talking together around a table at the time of the incident, were"very grossed out and weirded out," but thought "Okay, Donald is gross. We all know he's gross. Let's just move on."

Trump's response:

"Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity," Hope Hicks , the president's then-spokeswoman and current White House communications director, told the Post in October 2016 . "It is totally ridiculous."

ADVERTISEMENT

Screenshot/Inside Edition

Allegations:

Jill Harth, a businesswoman who worked with Trump in the 1990s, told the Guardian in July 2016 that Trump pushed her against a wall, put his hand up her skirt, and tried to kiss her at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the early 1990s.

"He was relentless," she told the New York Times . "I didn't know how to handle it. I would go away from him and say I have to go to the restroom. It was the escape route."

Harth sued Trump in 1997 both for sexual harassment and for failing to uphold his end of a business deal with Harth and her then-partner.

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump's response:

Hicks responded to the Times' reporting, denying Harth's allegations wholesale.

"Mr. Trump denies each and every statement made by Ms. Harth," she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Screenshot/Bustle

Allegations:

Lisa Boyne, a health food business entrepreneur, told HuffPost in October 2016 that she attended a 1996 dinner with Trump andmodeling agent John Casablancas during which several other women in attendance were forced to walk across a table in order to leave.

As the women walked on the table, Boyne says that Trump looked up their skirts and commented on their underwear and genitals. Trump allegedly asked Boyne for her opinion on which of the women he should sleep with.

Boyne joinedJessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey, Rachel Crooks three others who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct in calling on Congress to investigate Trump in December.

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump's response:

Hicks denied Boyne's allegations. "Mr. Trump never heard of this woman and would never do that," she told HuffPost.

Allegations:

Two Miss Teen USA contestants told BuzzFeed News in October 2016 that Trumpwalked in on them while they were changing in their dressing rooms.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, 'Oh my god, there's a man in here,'" Mariah Billado, who represented Vermont in 1997, told BuzzFeed.Billado added that Trump said something along the lines of, "Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before."

Victoria Hughes, a former Miss New Mexico, said Trump first introduced himself to the teenage contestants when he unexpectedly walked into their dressing room.

"It was certainly the most inappropriate time to meet us all for the first time," she told BuzzFeed .

Trump's response:

Trump appeared to admit to this behavior when he boasted in an April 2005 interview with radio host Howard Stern that he regularly walked into contestants' dressing rooms on the beauty pageants he owned while women were unclothed.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere. And Im allowed to go in because Im the owner of the pageant," he said. "You know they're standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible-looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that."

In October 2016, the Trump campaign called the allegations politically motivated lies.

"These accusations have no merit and have already been disproven by many other individuals who were present," the campaign said in a statement. "When you see questionable attacks like this magically put out there in the final month of a presidential campaign, you have to ask yourself what the political motivations are and why the media is pushing it."

ADVERTISEMENT

Screenshot/CNN

Allegations:

Temple Taggart, a former Miss Utah, told the New York Times in May 2016 that Trump "kissed me directly on the lips" when she met him at theMiss USA pageant in 1997. Trump did the same thing when Taggart met with him again at Trump Tower in Manhattan after he offered to aid her modeling career, she said.

In November 2017, Taggart spoke out again, telling the Times that the allegations against Trump were "brushed under the rug."

Trump's response:

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump "emphatically" denies Taggart's claims.

"I don't even know who she is," Trump told NBC News in October 2016. "She claims this took place in a public area. I never kissed her. I emphatically deny this ridiculous claim."

Allegations:

Cathy Heller told the Guardian in October 2016 that she was attending a Mother's Day brunch with her husband, children, and in-laws at Mar-a-Lago in the 1990s when Trump approached her table, introduced himself to her, and forcibly kissed her .

ADVERTISEMENT

"He took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips," she said, and added that she was "angry and shaken" as a result of the incident.

Trump's response:

A Trump campaign spokesman denied Heller's allegation , arguing that it couldn't have happened in public.

"There is no way that something like this would have happened in a public place on Mother's Day at Mr. Trump's resort," Jason Miller said. "It would have been the talk of Palm Beach for the past two decades."

ADVERTISEMENT

Richard Drew/AP

Allegations:

Karena Virginia, ayoga instructorand life coach, told the Washington Post in October 2016 that Trump groped her as she waited for her car outside the US Open in New York in 1998.

Virginia, then 27, said she overheard Trump talkingwith a group of men about her legs and that Trump then approached her, grabbed her arm, and touched her breast before asking, "Don't you know who I am?"

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump's response:

"Give me a break," Trump representative Jessica Ditto said in response to Virginia's allegation. "Voters are tired of these circus like antics and reject these fictional stories and the clear efforts to benefit Hillary Clinton."

Screenshot/CNN

ADVERTISEMENT

Allegations:

Two Miss USA contestants said Trump walked into their dressing rooms, where female participants were changing, and ogled them.

Tasha Dixon, a former Miss Arizona who competed in the 2001 Miss USA pageant, told CBS in October 2016 that Trump walked into the contestants' dressing room while they were changing.

"He just came strolling right in,"Dixon said. "There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless, other girls were naked."

She added, "To have the owner come waltzing in when we're naked or half naked in a very physically vulnerable position, and then to have the pressure of the people that work for him telling us to go fawn all over him, go walk up to him, talk to him."

ADVERTISEMENT

Dixon said there was "no one to complain to" because Trump owned the pageant and everyone employed there reported to him.

Bridget Sullivan, Miss New Hampshire in 2000, told BuzzFeed News in May 2016 that Trump walked into the contestants' dressing room unannounced and hugged her inappropriately.

"The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking. We were all naked," Sullivan said, comparing Trump to a "creepy uncle." "He'd hug you just a little low on your back."

Trump's response:

In October 2016, the Trump campaign denied Dixon's allegations, calling them politically motivated fabrications.

ADVERTISEMENT

"These accusations have no merit and have already been disproven by many other individuals who were present," the campaign said in a statement. "When you see questionable attacks like this magically put out there in the final month of a presidential campaign, you have to ask yourself what the political motivations are and why the media is pushing it."

Wilfredo Lee/AP

Allegations:

ADVERTISEMENT

Melinda "Mindy" McGillivray told the Palm Beach Post in October 2016 that Trump grabbed her buttockswhile they were backstage during a Ray Charles concert at Mar-a-Lago in 2003.

Ken Davidoff, a photographer present at the concert, said McGillivray, then 23, approached him soon after the incident and said,"Donald just grabbed my a--!"

McGillivray spoke out again on"Megyn Kelly Today" in December , calling for a congressional investigation into the accusations of sexual misconduct against Trump.

"He has to face the music; he can't get away with this," McGillivray said. "I want justice."

Trump's response:

ADVERTISEMENT

The Post reported that Trump did not respond to requests for comment concerningMcGillivray's accusation, but the president has broadly denied all of the sexual misconduct accusations made against him.

"The timing and absurdity of these false claims speaks volumes and the publicity tour that has begun only further confirms the political motives behind them," White House press secretary Sanders said after the TV appearance in December.

Screenshot/ABC News

ADVERTISEMENT

Allegations:

People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff wrote in an October 2016 column that Trump sexually assaulted her in 2005 at Mar-a-Lago. Stoynoff was visiting Trump and his new wife, Melania, at their Florida estate to report on a story about the couple's first year of marriage.

While a pregnant Melania was changing clothes for a photoshoot, Trump offered to show Stoynoff a "tremendous" room at the resort.

"We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat," Stoynoff wrote.

She added that Trump told her they would have a sexual affair. "Have you ever been to Peter Luger's for steaks? I'll take you. We're going to have an affair, I'm telling you," he allegedly said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump's response:

Trump denied the allegations, tweeting last year , "Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the 'incident' in her story. Because it did not happen!"

Mario Anzuoni/AP

ADVERTISEMENT

Allegations:

Two women have said Trump kissed them without their consent, but that they weren't offended by it at the time.

Juliet Huddy, a former Fox News anchor, said on the "Mornin!!! With Bill Schulz" podcast in December 2017 that Trump kissed her on the lips without her consent after a meeting in Trump Tower in Manhattan in 2005 or 2006.

"He went to say goodbye and he, rather than kiss me on the cheek, he leaned in on the lips," she said. Huddy added that she was surprised by the kiss, but "didn't feel threatened" or "offended" at the time.

"Now that I've matured, I would've said, 'Nope.' At that time, I was making excuses," she said in December.

ADVERTISEMENT

Jennifer Murphy, a former contestant both in Miss USA and Trump's reality TV show "The Apprentice," told Grazia magazine in December 2016 that Trump kissed her unexpectedly following a job interview in Trump Tower in 2005.

Although Murphy said she was "very taken aback at the time," she later told CNN that she "wasn't offended" by the kiss. She said she voted for him for president, and even created a Katy Perry parody video in which she sang, "I was kissed by Trump and I liked it."

Trump's response:

The White House denied Huddy's account, according to the New York Daily News .

ADVERTISEMENT

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Allegations:

Rachel Crooks told the New York Times in October 2016 that Trump kissed her on the mouth without her consent when she introduced herself him in 2005 Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she worked as a receptionist.

She told the Times that she and Trump shook hands and then he kissed her "directly on the mouth."

ADVERTISEMENT

Crooks told her sister, who confirmed her account to the Times, but said she thought she would lose her job if she told her company anything about the interaction.

"I was shocked, devastated," she said during a December 2017 interview on "Megyn Kelly Today," adding: "I remember hiding in our boss' office because no one else was there, it was early in the morning, and I called my sister ... I felt horrible."

Crooks joined calls for a congressional investigation into Trump's alleged misconduct.

Trump's response:

Trump denied Crooks' account in an interview with the New York Times in October 2016 . "None of this ever took place," he said, threatening to sue the Times if it reported on the allegations.

ADVERTISEMENT

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Allegations:

Samantha Holvey, a contestant in the 2006 Miss USA pageant, which Trump owned, told CNN in October 2016 that Trump personally inspected each of the pageant contestants individually.

ADVERTISEMENT

"He would step in front of each girl and look you over from head to toe like we were just meat, we were just sexual objects, that we were not people," Holvey said, adding that it made her feel"the dirtiest I felt in my entire life."

Then a 20-year-old student at a private Southern Baptist college, Holvey said she"had no desire to win when I understood what it was all about."

Holvey also called for a congressional investigation into Trump's alleged misconduct.

Trump's response:

CNN, who first reported on Holvey's allegations , said Trump did not respond to requests for comment, but the president has broadly denied all of the sexual misconduct accusations made against him.

ADVERTISEMENT

Allegations:

Ninni Laaksonen, a model and former Miss Finland, told Finnish newspaperIlta-Sanomat in October 2016 that Trump groped herbackstage at the "Late Show with David Letterman" in 2006.

"Trump stood right next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt," Laaksonen said. "He really grabbed my butt. I don't think anybody saw it, but I flinched and thought, 'What is happening?'"

Trump's response:

ADVERTISEMENT

The newspaper did not include a response from Trump, but the president has broadly denied all of the sexual misconduct accusations made against him.

Kevork Djansezian/Reuters

Allegations:

ADVERTISEMENT

At an October 2016 press conference, adult-film actress Jessica Drake accused Trump of grabbing and kissing her without permission and offering her money to accept a private invitation to his penthouse hotel room in Lake Tahoein 2006.

"This is not acceptable behavior for anyone, much less a presidential candidate," Drake said."I understand that I may be called a liar or an opportunist, but I will risk that in order to stand in solidarity with women who share similar accounts that span many, many years."

Trump's response:

Trump called Drake's accusations "total fiction" and implied that Drake was accustomed to being "grabbed" because she is a porn actress.

"One said, 'He grabbed me on the arm.' And she's a porn star. You know, this one that came out recently, 'He grabbed me and he grabbed me on the arm.' Oh, I'm sure she's never been grabbed before," he said on WGIR radio .

ADVERTISEMENT

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Allegations:

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on NBC's "The Apprentice," told reporters at an October 2016 press conference that Trump assaulted her during a 2007 meeting at The Beverly Hills Hotel.

ADVERTISEMENT

"He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again very aggressively and placed his hand on my breast," she said. "I pulled back and walked to another part of the room. He then walked up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the bedroom. I walked out." Zervos added that Trump thrust himself on her before she left the room.

Zervos sued Trump for defamation after he accused her of lying about the allegations. Trump's attorneys have moved to dismiss the case, arguing that, as president, hecan't be sued in state court and that his remarks about his accusers are political speech. The suit is ongoing.

Trump's response:

"I vaguely remember Ms. Zervos as one of the many contestants on 'The Apprentice' over the years," Trump said in a statement. "To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how I've conducted my life. In fact, Ms. Zervos continued to contact me for help, emailing my office on April 14 of this year asking that I visit her restaurant in California."

ADVERTISEMENT

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Allegations:

Cassandra Searles, who represented the state of Washington at the 2013 Miss USA pageant, wrote in a June 2016 Facebook post that Trump treated herself and other female Miss USA contestants "like cattle" and had them "lined up so he could get a closer look at his property."

"He probably doesn't want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room," she added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump's response:

Trump has not specifically denied Searles' allegations, but he has broadly denied all of the sexual misconduct accusations made against him.

Thomson Reuters

ADVERTISEMENT

Allegations:

Alva Johnson, a former Trump campaign staffer, said that Trump kissed her without her consent at a Tampa, Florida rally on August 24, 2016.

Johnson, 43, said Trump grabbed her hand and kissed her on the side of her mouth as he exited an RV outside of the rally, according to details in a new federal lawsuit and an interview with the Washington Post.

"Oh, my God, I think he's going to kiss me," Johnson said in a February 2019 interview with the Post. "He's coming straight for my lips. So I turn my head, and he kisses me right on corner of my mouth, still holding my hand the entire time. Then he walks on out."

Trump's response:

ADVERTISEMENT

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told INSIDER in a statement, "This accusation is absurd on its face. This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts."

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Trump responds to women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, saying they're politically motivated

DON'T MISS: Democrats and Republicans have both had hypocritical responses to the outpouring of sexual misconduct allegations

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT