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How many women have accused Donald Trump of rape or sexual misconduct?
Executive summary
Counting allegations against Donald Trump depends on the source and date: several outlets and compilations say "at least 26" or "at least 28" women have accused him of sexual misconduct, while some reporting and books claim higher tallies (around the high 20s to 40+ when including additional accounts and unreported names) [1] [2] [3]. Only a small subset of those accusations has resulted in civil litigation or a jury finding—most prominently the E. Jean Carroll civil verdict finding Trump liable for sexual abuse [4] [5].
1. Numbers vary because definitions and cutoffs differ
Different outlets count different totals because they use different criteria: Business Insider and contemporaneous lists reported "at least 26" women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct (covering a range from groping to assault) [1], while Wikipedia and other summaries cite "at least 28" women and note allegations that include rape among the claims [2]. Other publications and commentators have referenced larger compilations—books such as All the President's Women added dozens of additional accounts to earlier lists—leading some summaries to say "more than 40" women have come forward when including those extended accounts and anonymous confirmations [6] [3].
2. Types of allegations in the public record are heterogeneous
The publicly reported accusations range from claims of unwanted touching, kissing and groping, to allegations described as attempted or completed rape, and to reports about incidents involving pageant contestants and teenagers; coverage emphasizes a pattern of varied conduct over decades rather than a single uniform category of offense [7] [8] [2]. Journalistic timelines and compilations list incidents stretching from the 1970s into the 2010s, and they group everything from alleged non‑consensual fondling to more serious rape allegations in one broader "sexual misconduct" category [8] [7].
3. Litigation and legal outcomes are a narrower slice of the claims
Most allegations have not resulted in criminal charges. E. Jean Carroll’s civil suits are the highest‑profile legal outcome: a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing her and for defamation in 2023, producing a monetary verdict later subject to appeals [4] [5]. Other suits have been filed over the years (for example, Jill Harth’s 1997 suit and the now‑withdrawn "Jane Doe" claims reported in some accounts), but many accusations remain in the realm of reporting, interviews, or settlement negotiations rather than criminal convictions [5] [1].
4. How recent reporting changed the tally
News organizations updating lists have sometimes added names or accounts uncovered by deeper reporting. For example, the Guardian’s timeline and later updates incorporated additional accusers and published extended narratives; Axios noted a count of 27 when a new accuser was reported in late 2024, illustrating how totals can move as new accounts surface or are publicly named [8] [9]. Conversely, some historical claims (such as Ivana Trump’s rape allegation in divorce filings) were later recanted or described differently in reporting, and those shifts affect how compilers count entries [5].
5. Competing viewpoints and Trump’s responses
Trump has denied all allegations and his representatives have described them as politically motivated or fabricated; media summaries routinely note his denials alongside the accounts [2] [9]. Some defenders emphasize the lack of criminal charges against him for most allegations, while critics point to patterns across separate accounts and to corroborating details in investigative books and timelines [9] [6].
6. Limits of available reporting and how to interpret totals
Available sources show disagreement about the precise number and explicitly use qualifiers ("at least", "dozens", "more than") because counts depend on inclusion rules—named vs. anonymous accounts, interviews compiled in books, or later reporting [1] [3]. If you need a single number for a specific purpose (e.g., legal vs. journalistic context), choose the source and definition that match that purpose—legal tallies should focus on filed cases and verdicts; journalistic tallies often include eyewitness interviews and anonymous confirmations [5] [6].
Bottom line: contemporary mainstream compilations put the number of women publicly accusing Trump of sexual misconduct in the high‑20s (commonly cited as 26–28), while some reporting and books expand that list into the dozens or 40+ when including additional accounts and anonymous confirmations; only a fraction of those allegations have produced legal findings or criminal charges, with E. Jean Carroll’s civil verdict the most prominent legal determination to date [1] [2] [4].