How many sexual assault or harassment allegations have been made against Donald Trump by name?
Executive summary
Published tallies differ because outlets count different things: named women who have accused Donald Trump range from the mid‑teens to the mid‑20s in mainstream summaries, while some broader aggregations and opinion pieces report dozens more when counting related allegations, incidents or unnamed claims; one civil jury found Trump liable in the E. Jean Carroll case but he has not faced criminal conviction on these claims [1] [2] [3] [4]. The safest, evidence‑based statement is that reputable news organizations compiling named accusers have documented roughly 16–27 women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment, with larger counts reflecting different scopes or methodologies [1] [5] [2] [3].
1. The low end: legacy summaries that list about 16–18 named accusers
Some long‑established news summaries counted roughly 16 to 18 women who publicly alleged sexual assault or harassment by Trump; for example PBS’s 2019 recap listed 16 women with allegations spanning the 1980s–2013 [1] and ABC News published a roundup citing at least 18 women in 2020 [5]. These lower counts reflect conservative tallies that focus on core, widely reported allegations — typically those where reporters directly named a complainant and summarized a specific incident — and therefore serve as a baseline for many timelines [1] [5].
2. The mid‑range consensus: about 25–27 named women
Multiple outlets and compendia produced mid‑range lists of about 25–27 women. Wikipedia’s entry cited “at least 25 women” [6], Business Insider and Vice reported at least 26 named accusers [2] [4], and Axios reported a 27th woman coming forward in late 2024 [3]. These counts tended to include later‑reported allegations, women who surfaced after major news cycles, and those documented in books or longer investigative projects; that expansion explains why mid‑range tallies exceed earlier lists [6] [2] [3].
3. The high end: dozens when counting wider definitions or affiliated allegations
Some pieces and commentators use a much broader frame, producing totals that run well into the dozens. A New York Times columnist’s compilation and related summaries have been cited as saying “dozens” or even as many as 69 women have accused Trump of some form of sexual misconduct, and other outlets have reported “more than 40” women coming forward in various contexts [7] [8]. Those higher figures typically fold in a wider set of items — multiple incidents attributed to a single woman, allegations about people in Trump’s orbit, anonymous or less‑documented claims, or aggregations from books that counted “instances” as well as individual accusers [7] [9] [8].
4. Why counts diverge: methodology, definitions and source selection
Discrepancies reflect methodology: some lists count distinct women who have named Trump and described specific assaults or harassment; others count incidents (a single woman may report multiple episodes) or include less‑direct claims tied to his associates; still others add complaints reported in books or personal interviews that were not contemporaneously reported to authorities [9] [10] [4]. Mainstream outlets that aim for conservative verification will therefore report lower figures [1] [5], while investigative books and opinion pieces often present broader totals [9] [7].
5. Legal outcomes and limits of counting as evidence
Counting accusers is not the same as counting legal verdicts: Trump has denied each allegation and, outside of the E. Jean Carroll civil finding, he has not been criminally convicted on sexual‑misconduct claims [4] [3]. Carroll’s case resulted in a civil liability finding — an important legal moment referenced by multiple outlets — but most allegations remain unresolved in courts or were settled, dropped, or litigated as civil disputes rather than criminal prosecutions [2] [3].
6. Conclusion: a range, not a single number
Reporters and researchers converge around a defensible range: core mainstream surveys list roughly 16–18 named accusers, expanded compendia track about 25–27 named women, and broader aggregations that count incidents or include allied claims produce totals in the dozens; the difference lies in definitional choices rather than an absence of sources [1] [5] [2] [7]. Given the variation in journalistic and scholarly methods, the most transparent answer is to present that range and to cite the underlying compilations rather than claim a single, uncontested tally [6] [9].