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How many affairs has President Trump been accused of having during his presidency?
Executive summary
Public reporting identifies multiple women who have alleged affairs or sexual encounters with Donald Trump that became part of news coverage and legal cases; the most prominent alleged affairs during or immediately before his 2016 campaign cited in major outlets involve Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and Daniels’ allegation was central to a hush‑money prosecution that produced a conviction for falsifying business records [1] [2] [3]. Available sources catalog many more sexual‑misconduct allegations and rumor reports over decades, but they do not provide a single authoritative tally of “how many affairs” Trump was accused of having during his presidency [4] [5] [6].
1. Headlines and the concrete legal case: the Daniels allegation that drove prosecutions
The most legally consequential allegation involved Stormy Daniels, who said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and who received a $130,000 payment in 2016 that prosecutors said was hush money tied to the 2016 campaign; that payment underpinned the Manhattan prosecution that produced a falsified‑records conviction [1] [3] [2]. Reporting (BBC, Forbes, PBS, AP) frames Daniels’ allegation as the one most directly linked to criminal charges; Trump has consistently denied the affair [1] [3] [7].
2. The Karen McDougal allegation and “catch‑and‑kill” reporting
Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, told investigators and reporters she had a months‑long affair with Trump in the mid‑2000s; media accounts say American Media Inc. paid McDougal for the rights to her story and that the National Enquirer’s parent company buried it — the so‑called “catch‑and‑kill” practice — though mainstream outlets note Trump has denied the relationship [5] [8] [9] [7]. McDougal’s story did not itself produce the same criminal indictment as the Daniels matter, but it figures prominently in reporting about efforts to suppress damaging pre‑election stories [9].
3. Broader lists and counts: allegations vs. affairs vs. rumors
Longform coverage and aggregations (Wikipedia, The Mirror, Business Insider) list scores of women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, harassment, assault, or impropriety stretching back decades; some of those items are courtroom allegations, others are media‑reported rumors or dating/affair claims [4] [6] [5]. These sources make clear there is a difference between (a) formal allegations of sexual misconduct, (b) women saying they had sexual relationships or affairs, and (c) unverified rumor‑style claims; none of the provided sources produces a single, universally accepted numeric total of “affairs during his presidency” [4] [6].
4. Timing matters: when the alleged encounters took place vs. when they were reported
Key alleged encounters (e.g., Daniels and McDougal) are reported to have occurred in the mid‑2000s rather than during Trump’s 2017–2021 White House term, but they were litigated, reported, and legally scrutinized during and after his campaigns and presidency — which is why reporting often ties them to the 2016 election and subsequent prosecutions [1] [3] [9]. In short: alleged conduct may predate the presidency even when allegations and legal consequences surface while he was a candidate or president [3] [7].
5. Disagreement among outlets and the role of denials
Mainstream outlets (BBC, AP, CNN, PBS, Forbes) document the allegations and the payments; they also report Trump’s repeated denials that he had affairs with Daniels or McDougal [1] [7] [3] [9]. Some aggregators and tabloids list more alleged affairs or “rumored” encounters [6] [10], but those pieces mix verified allegations, civil suits, and gossip — producing diverging counts depending on editorial standards [6] [10].
6. Why you won’t find a single authoritative number in current reporting
Available sources compile lists of allegations and report prominent alleged affairs, yet none supplies a definitive, sourced count of “how many affairs during his presidency.” Reporting instead differentiates alleged sexual encounters (many predating the White House), legal findings tied to hush payments, and broader misconduct allegations — leaving a precise numeric answer absent from the materials provided [4] [1] [3].
7. How to interpret the evidence and next steps for a researcher
If you want a defensible number, specify criteria: count only alleged affairs that occurred during the 2017–2021 presidency; count all alleged sexual encounters regardless of timing; or count only allegations tied to legal findings. Using the included sources: Daniels and McDougal are the best‑documented alleged affairs linked to legal reporting [1] [9]. For a broader inventory of allegations and accusations, consult aggregated timelines and investigative pieces [4] [5] [6].
Limitations: This analysis relies solely on the supplied sources and therefore cannot confirm allegations not mentioned therein; available sources do not mention a single agreed numeric total of “affairs during his presidency” [4] [6].