Dress torn, left bleeding: Ex-Miss Switzerland accuses Trump of rape in 1993

Former Miss Switzerland Beatrice Keul has accused US President Donald Trump of "brutally" raping her at a New York City hotel in 1993, People.com reported, citing a new report released by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. The report examined Trump's alleged links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation.The White House has rejected the allegations, calling them untrue and describing the congressional report as a politically motivated attempt to target the president.The report details Keul's account of the alleged assault and examines claims that Trump, Epstein and others used the Donald J Trump American Dream Pageant as a "hunting ground" to prey on vulnerable young women and girls. The competition featured participants aged between 16 and 22.According to The Week, the report includes allegations that the pageant provided opportunities for men to approach and exploit women through promises of assistance with education, travel and career prospects. Keul, who was 24 at the time and worked as a model and financial services professional, was reportedly recruited by Jill Harth to attend the pageant in Atlantic City and New York in November 1993.According to her account, cited in the congressional report, Keul met Trump during a press luncheon at the Plaza Hotel, which was then owned by him. Trump allegedly approached her and offered to help her secure a visa and admission to New York University. Epstein subsequently approached Keul and made similar offers, including an invitation to attend a party at Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.The report states that a representative of Trump later invited Keul upstairs to meet the president.Believing the meeting could help her career and educational prospects, she allegedly accompanied the representative to a hotel suite.Once inside, Trump allegedly grabbed her from behind and raped her. The report says the alleged that her dress was torn, and she was left bleeding and bruised on multiple parts of her body as a result of the assault, which Keul described as "brutal".Following the incident, Trump reiterated his promises to assist her with a visa and university admission while asking her to remain silent. According to the report, he told her, "The show must go on".Keul reportedly completed the pageant while in a terrified "daze" before returning to Switzerland, the People.com report added. She subsequently declined to participate in another Trump-sponsored pageant in Hawaii.Several months later, Trump contacted her in Switzerland and again offered assistance with obtaining a visa and admission to NYU, but she turned down the offer.The Congressional report also cites other accounts that Democrats say support their concerns about Trump's alleged conduct, including a 1997 sexual assault lawsuit filed against him by Jill Harth.It draws parallels between the alleged promises made to Keul and accounts from women who said Epstein used educational and professional opportunities to recruit and control victims.WHITE HOUSE REJECTS ALLEGATIONSResponding to the allegations, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told People.com, "None of these allegations are true".Bis described the report as "nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump's historic achievements".She added that Trump had removed Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club because he was “a creep” and maintained that the president had been "fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein".Trump has not been charged with a crime in connection with Keul's allegations.The allegations also come against the backdrop of Trump's legal battles with writer E Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in a New York department store in the 1990s.In May 2023, a civil jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her. Trump denied her allegations and continued to challenge the verdicts.Any further developments will depend on subsequent disclosures, responses from the individuals named in the report and any additional legal or congressional action.- Ends