How many times has Donald Trump been accused of sexual offenses?
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Executive summary
Counts of accusations against Donald Trump vary widely because news organizations, researchers and advocacy writers use different definitions — from narrow criminal-assault claims to a broad catalogue of harassment and misconduct — producing reported totals that range from the mid‑teens to several dozen; mainstream aggregations most commonly list roughly 20–27 women, while some broader counts place the number as high as 69 [1][2][3][4].
1. What the major tallies say: a cluster of mid‑20s, but not a single agreed number
Several widely cited summaries put the number of women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault, harassment or unwanted touching in the 20s: Wikipedia’s entry records “at least 25 women” alleging rape, sexual assault and harassment across decades [5], The Guardian’s timeline historically cited about 20 women [2], and Axios reported the publication of a 27th accuser in late 2024 while noting Trump has denied wrongdoing [3].
2. Narrow counts anchored to assault allegations produce lower figures (mid‑teens)
Other outlets that focus on allegations that meet specific characterizations of assault rather than broader misconduct report smaller totals — for example, PBS’s 2019 recap counted 16 women accusing Trump of various forms of sexual assault, including at least one allegation described as rape [1]. That lower figure reflects a stricter threshold and an earlier snapshot in time, and therefore should not be conflated with more expansive inventories.
3. Broader definitions and long investigations push the total much higher
When journalists and columnists expand the scope to include workplace harassment, unwanted kissing, groping, and allegations recounted by additional sources or in retrospective investigations, totals climb considerably: a New York Times columnist’s long-form reporting, summarized by Baptist News, suggested as many as 69 women have accused Trump of some form of sexual misconduct [4]. Some book‑length investigations and aggregations list mid‑20s plus multiple instances, e.g., one roundup counted “26 women, 43 instances,” illustrating how counting “instances” versus “individual accusers” also changes the picture [6].
4. Legal outcomes, charges and liabilities: distinct from counts of accusations
Counting accusations is not the same as counting criminal charges or civil findings; by late 2024 a jury found Trump liable in a civil case for sexually abusing and defaming columnist E. Jean Carroll, a decision later upheld by an appeals court, while coverage elsewhere emphasizes that Trump has not been criminally charged for sexual misconduct in the widely cited summaries [7][3]. Reporters note many suits were dropped, settled, or focused on defamation rather than criminal prosecution, underscoring why raw tallies of accusations do not map cleanly onto legal culpability [7][3].
5. Why the numbers differ: definitions, timing, and source choices
Disagreement among tallies stems from three concrete choices reporters and researchers make: whether to count only allegations framed as assault or to include harassment and misconduct (affecting figures like PBS’s 16 vs. NYT’s 69) [1][4]; whether to count repeated allegations about the same incident as multiple “instances” (as in an aggregation claiming 43 instances) or as single accusations tied to an individual [6]; and the cutoff date for inclusion, since new accusers have emerged intermittently [3]. Each outlet’s editorial thresholds and political or narrative context also shape presentation, an implicit agenda that readers should weigh when comparing lists [2][4].
6. Bottom line answer: a range, with a conservative floor and a contested ceiling
The most defensible short answer based on the cited reporting is that Donald Trump has been publicly accused by at least two dozen women — commonly cited as 20–27 in mainstream tallies — while broader compilations that use a wider definition of misconduct place the number much higher, up to 69 in the most expansive account [5][2][3][4]. Any single-number claim should be treated as contingent on the counting rules used by the source.