Former Miss Switzerland accuses Donald Trump of rape

Donald Trump has been accused of rape by a model and former Miss Switzerland in a report produced by the Democratic Party.

Beatrice Keul, who shortly before the 2024 election claimed the president had groped her in November 1993, has now alleged that Mr Trump also raped her during that incident.

The report, released Monday, detailed an investigation by US House Democrats into Mr Trump’s alleged connections to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.

The White House denied the report’s allegations, with a spokesman describing the claims as “a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump’s historic achievements”.

Beatrice Keul’s account is detailed in a House Democrats’ report examining the president’s alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein

During interviews with Democratic committee staffers “over several weeks”, Ms Keul said she met Mr Trump when she was 24 at a press event for a pageant at New York’s Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time.

According to Ms Keul, Mr Trump allegedly promised that he would arrange a visa for her and said he could ensure that she got accepted into New York University (NYU). “I will take care of you,” he told her, according to the claims in the report.

After Mr Trump stepped away from their conversation, Ms Keul said she was immediately approached by Epstein, who described himself as “Don’s best friend” and invited her to a party at Mar-a-Lago.

“We organise many parties with Don,” Epstein apparently told her. Mr Trump says that he ended his friendship with Epstein long before there were suspicions of any criminal wrongdoing and has repeatedly described him as a “creep” whom he kicked out of his Mar-a-Lago club.

According to Ms Keul, Epstein introduced himself as ‘Don’s best friend’ Credit: Getty Images/Davidoff Studios Photography

According to the Democrats’ report, a representative for Mr Trump later allegedly invited Ms Keul to meet the future president upstairs at the Plaza Hotel.

“Upon entering, Trump reportedly grabbed Keul from behind and forcibly raped her; in the process, tearing her dress and causing bleeding and bruising on multiple parts of her body,” the report claimed.

“Keul described the rape as ‘brutal,’” the report added. Following the alleged assault, Ms Keul claimed that Mr Trump “sat her on the edge of the bed, repeated his promises to arrange for a visa and NYU admission, and made her promise she would keep quiet, saying, ‘[T]he show must go on.’”

In Ms Keul’s original claims in October 2024, she accused Mr Trump of groping her at the Plaza Hotel in 1993.

“He kissed me on the lips and on the neck. He tried to lift my dress. He was grabbing and touching my body everywhere he could,” she told The Daily Mail.

But she said things did not go further. “I tried everything I could. Finally, I said ‘let’s talk first’ or something like that, then he slowed down,” she said.

The 6ft 1in ex-model suggested it was her size that “saved her” from the alleged attack from escalating.

The newspaper also reported that a longtime friend said Ms Keul “first told him her story of Trump’s unwanted sexual advances 20 years ago, and that her telling of the incident has not changed in the intervening years.”

Allegations dismissed as ‘fake’

At the time, Karoline Leavitt, then press secretary to Mr Trump, described the allegations as “fake”.

A White House spokesman said Mr Trump had been “fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.”

“This ‘report’ is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump’s historic achievements,” they said.

The newly released report summarises the accounts of four other women who have accused Mr Trump of rape or sexual assault.

It also claims that Mr Trump, Epstein and others used the pageant at the Plaza Hotel as a “‘hunting ground’ to prey on vulnerable young women and girls.”

“Five women have directly accused Trump of rape or sexual assault in Epstein’s company or presence; others have indicated that Epstein or Maxwell attempted to traffic them to Trump,” Jamie Raskin, the committee’s ranking member, said in a statement alongside the release of the report.

“Trump’s Justice Department appears to be covering up these crimes to protect the President,” he added.

The report landed just a week before the US midterm elections. Mr Trump’s handling of the Epstein files – along with inflation and rising energy prices caused by his war with Iran – has hamstrung Republican candidates even though the US president is not on the ballot.