Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations

Donald Trump, the president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, was accused of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping, by at least 25 women since the 1970s.

Litigation includes his then-wife Ivana's rape claim during their 1990 divorce (she later recanted); businesswoman Jill Harth's 1997 lawsuit alleging breach of contract and sexual harassment (she settled the former claim and forfeited the latter); and former ''Apprentice'' contestant Summer Zervos's claim of sexual misconduct followed by a 2017 defamation lawsuit after Trump accused her of lying (she withdrew her defamation case in 2021).

In June 2019, writer E. Jean Carroll alleged in ''New York'' magazine that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in 1995 or 1996. The magazine said two friends of Carroll confirmed that Carroll had previously confided in them in regard to the incident. Trump called the allegation fiction and denied ever meeting Carroll, although ''New York'' had published a photo of Trump and Carroll together in 1987. On May 9, 2023, a New York jury in civil case found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation against Carroll, but found him not liable for rape by the New York state definition. They awarded Carroll $5 million in damages. It was ruled that Trump had forcibly and nonconsensually penetrated Carroll's vagina, but did so with his fingers, while New York state's definition at the time defined rape as solely nonconsensual penetration of the vagina by a penis. In July, Judge Kaplan clarified that the jury had found that Trump had raped Carroll according to the common definition of the word. A September 2023 partial summary judgment again found Trump liable for defaming Carroll. On January 26, 2024, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million in damages.

Two of the allegations (by Ivana Trump and Jill Harth) became public before Trump's candidacy for president, but the rest arose after a 2005 audio recording was leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump was recorded bragging that a celebrity like himself "can do anything" to women, including "just start kissing them... I don't even wait" and "grab 'em by the pussy". Trump subsequently characterized those comments as "locker room talk" and denied actually behaving that way toward women, and he also apologized for the crude language. Many of his accusers stated that Trump's denials provoked them into going public with their allegations. Another type of accusation was made, primarily after the audio recording surfaced, by several former Miss USA and Miss Teen USA contestants, who accused Trump of entering the dressing rooms of beauty pageant contestants. Trump, who owned the Miss Universe franchise, which includes both pageants, was accused of going into dressing rooms in 1997, 2000, 2001, and 2006, while contestants were in various stages of undress. Trump had already referred to this practice during a 2005 interview on ''The Howard Stern Show'', saying he could "get away with things like that" because he owned the beauty pageants in which the women and girls were competing. In October 2019, the book ''All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator'' by Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy was published, containing 43 additional allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump.

Trump has denied all the allegations against him, saying he has been the victim of media bias, conspiracies, and a political smear campaign. In October 2016, Trump publicly vowed to sue all the women who have made allegations of sexual misconduct against him, as well as ''The New York Times'' for publishing the allegations. Provided by Wikipedia