How many women have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct as of December 2025?
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Executive summary
Reporting and public lists disagree, but the most-cited tally in major outlets through 2025 is 26 women who have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct; other reputable sources give lower counts or much higher totals (up to 69) depending on how “accused” and “sexual misconduct” are defined [1] [2] [3].
1. What the major news tallies say and where they converge
Several mainstream summaries compiled since the 2016 Access Hollywood revelations converge on roughly two dozen named accusers, with Business Insider, Vice and The Independent explicitly reporting “at least 26” women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct, assault, or rape across decades [1] [4] [5].
2. Why some respected outlets list far fewer cases
Other outlets produced earlier or narrower inventories: PBS’s 2019 recap recorded 16 women accusing Trump of various forms of sexual assault, reflecting an earlier snapshot or a stricter focus on certain kinds of allegations rather than the broader set of public claims compiled later [2].
3. Why some commentators say the number is much higher
Journalists and commentators who count more broadly — including anonymous accounts, lesser-reported incidents, and overlapping categories such as harassment, non-consensual kissing, and broader abuse claims — have produced substantially larger figures; a 2024 column cited by Baptist News paraphrases a New York Times piece asserting “as many as 69” women have accused Trump when using an expansive definition of misconduct and including many lesser-known reports [3].
4. The legal and editorial lines that drive differing counts
Disparities in counts stem from definitional and evidentiary choices: some lists include only women who filed suits or whose allegations prompted sustained reporting, others include first-person media interviews or anonymous accounts, and some compilers include both harassment and assault in a single tally; the E. Jean Carroll case, which produced a civil judgment and renewed counting, is an example that caused mainstream lists to be updated [4] [1].
5. What the most reliable, contemporaneous consensus looks like
By 2023–2025, multiple independently researched lists used by major outlets and encyclopedic summaries settled around the mid‑20s figure — commonly reported as “at least 25” or “at least 26” women — making that range the closest approximation supported across the provided sources [6] [1] [4] [5].
6. Caveats, counterviews and reporting limits
Counts are inherently contingent on editorial choices and evolving legal outcomes: early recaps offer lower totals [2], some journalists and columnists expand the scope to include many more accounts [3], and encyclopedic compilations may state slightly different minimums [6]; this reporting cannot resolve which specific incidents should or should not be aggregated without applying a consistent, transparent inclusion standard not fully available in the cited sources.
7. Bottom line answer
Based on the provided reporting, the defensible, cited figure most commonly published by major outlets as of 2025 is 26 women who have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct (with closely reported alternative counts of “at least 25” in reference works and a narrower 16 in earlier recaps), while some commentators using broader definitions claim totals as high as 69 — the variation reflects differing definitions and sourcing choices across media [1] [6] [2] [3].