Trump accused of raping former Miss Switzerland in Democrats’ Epstein report

Donald Trump is accused of raping a former Miss Switzerland in a report probing the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein released by House of Representatives Democrats this week.Beatrice Keul, a retired model and beauty pageant contestant, told the House Judiciary Committee about an incident alleged to have taken place at New York’s Plaza Hotel in 1993. The report, released a week ahead of the midterm elections, also summarises previously reported allegations from four other women against Trump. The White House has strongly denied all of the reports’ claims, accusing “crazed” Democrats of “a desperate attempt to distract Americans” and stressing the president has been “fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.”Keul previously claimed in October 2024 that Trump had sexually assaulted her at a beauty pageant staged at the Plaza Hotel.Keul told Committee staff who interviewed her for the new report that she was 24 when she flew in from Zurich to attend the American Dream Pageant in Manhattan and met Trump at a lunch associated with the contest.Beatrice Keul and Donald Trump in 1993, in a picture included in the House Committee on the Judiciary report (Courtesy of Beatrice Keul)Over the course of a 15-minute conversation, the real estate tycoon promised to arrange a visa for her and to help her get into New York University, Keul told the committee.When Trump stepped away, she said she was then approached by Epstein, who said: “I’m Jeffrey, Don’s best friend.”She claims Epstein invited her to an upcoming party at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida, and assured her: “You know I can take care of you. We organize many parties with Don… Flights, accommodations, you don’t have to worry about anything.”The report states that Keul was then approached by a Trump representative later that day and invited up to the future president’s suite, explaining that she saw the chance of a further meeting with the influential businessman as “a lucky break for the purpose of furthering her career and education.”“Upon entering, Trump reportedly grabbed Keul from behind and forcibly raped her; in the process, tearing her dress and causing bleeding and bruising on multiple parts of her body,” it recounts.Keul described the rape as “brutal,” according to Democrats, who said she remembered Trump sitting on the bed afterwards, repeating his promise to help with her visa and enrollment in higher education and reminding her: “The show must go on.”The White House stressed Trump had been “fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein” (Getty)Keul concluded her testimony by saying she had completed her part in the pageant and then returned home to Switzerland, declining to take part in another Trump-sponsored event in Hawaii scheduled for several weeks later.She did take a call from Trump several months after that, she said, in which he again offered to help with her U.S. visa. She turned down the gesture.Keul previously made allegations about the Plaza Hotel incident in The Daily Mail two years ago, a week before the 2024 presidential election.“He kissed me on the lips and on the neck,” she told the newspaper at the time. “He tried to lift my dress. He was grabbing and touching my body everywhere he could.“I tried everything I could. Finally, I said ‘let’s talk first’ or something like that, then he slowed down.”Her account was denied at the time by Trump’s then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who called it a “false” story.“Fake allegations like this are a disservice to women who are truly victims of assault,” she said.Of the other accusers highlighted in the Democrats' report, Stacey Williams, a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, has accused Trump of groping her at an event at Trump Tower in 1993 as part of a “twisted game” with Epstein, who had introduced them.Trump’s accuser also claims to have met Jeffrey Epstein at the event in question (New York State Sex Offender Registry/Reuters)Jill Harth accuses Trump of sexually assaulting her at a party at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home, in the mid-1990s at which he and Epstein appeared to be the only men present.A woman using the pseudonym “Katie Johnson” claimed Trump and Epstein raped her when she was a teenager and aspiring model, an incident she once gave a detailed account of to the FBI.And another woman using the pseudonym “Jane Doe” likewise claims to have told the FBI about Trump allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a minor.“None of these allegations are true,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told The Independent, in response to the Judiciary Committee report. “This ‘report’ is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump’s historic achievements. “The President kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep, and he has been fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.”