How many women have accused Donald Trump of assault?
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Executive summary
Reporting shows no single authoritative tally because counts depend on definitions (assault vs. broader sexual misconduct), but reliable outlets that differentiate “assault” narrowly report a substantially smaller number than compilations of all public accusations; for example PBS counted 16 women alleging sexual assault specifically, while many major outlets list roughly 25–27 women accused of sexual misconduct including groping, harassment and assault [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What “assault” means for these tallies — why numbers differ
Different news organizations use different criteria: some count only allegations that meet a legal or journalistic threshold for “sexual assault” (forced sex, rape, or non‑consensual touching), while others aggregate every public allegation of unwanted kissing, groping, harassment, or inappropriate conduct under “sexual misconduct,” producing higher totals; PBS’s reporting explicitly separated “assault” and related legal definitions and counted 16 women alleging various forms of sexual assault [1], whereas lists compiled by outlets such as Business Insider, The Independent and Vice refer to “at least 26” women accused of sexual misconduct, a broader category that includes assault claims as well as non‑consensual touching and harassment [2] [3] [5].
2. The narrow count most often cited for “assault” — 16
When the question is read strictly as “How many women have accused Donald Trump of sexual assault,” PBS’s 2019 recap is a frequently cited, conservative figure: it lists 16 women who have accused Trump of various forms of sexual assault, noting that its figure includes one explicit rape allegation and another whose description meets legal definitions of rape [1]. That 16‑figure is useful when the inquiry is bounded to allegations that outlets characterized as assaults rather than all misconduct.
3. The broader, commonly cited totals — mid‑20s to high‑20s
When organizations aggregate a wider set of public accusations — encompassing non‑consensual kissing, groping, harassment and assault — the count typically rises to the mid‑20s: Business Insider, The Independent, Vice and others have reported “at least 25” or “at least 26” women, and by late 2024 some outlets recorded about 27 women after new public allegations [2] [3] [5] [4]. Major news compilations (Time, ABC) have similarly documented “more than a dozen” to “at least 18” up through the 2016–2020 period, reflecting an evolving list as new accusations surfaced or were retold in later reporting [6] [7].
4. Even broader compilations and why some sources reach much higher numbers
Some commentators and columnists have cited totals markedly higher — for example, a 2024 Baptist News piece referencing a New York Times column said “as many as 69” women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct — but that larger number comes from expansive definitions, aggregating reports, first‑person accounts, corroborations, and wider interpretations of inappropriate behavior over decades rather than a strict legal definition of assault [8]. Such wide counts illustrate how methodology (public allegations, corroborated reports, private accounts surfaced later) drives the headline number.
5. Legal outcomes and limits of counting allegations
Counting allegations is not the same as adjudication: among these cases, E. Jean Carroll won a civil jury finding that Trump sexually abused her — a legal determination referenced in reporting — but most other allegations remain public claims without criminal conviction or civil liability, and some accusers have withdrawn suits or settled related claims, which complicates a simple numeric answer [3] [5]. Importantly, available reporting does not produce a single definitive master list that all outlets agree on, and the totals should be read as descriptive of different categories rather than as mutually exclusive or legally equivalent tallies [9] [10].