Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland finalist, has accused Donald Trump of raping her at New York’s Plaza Hotel in November 1993, according to a report published by Democratic staff on the US House Judiciary Committee on 26 October 2026. The White House has denied the allegation.
The accusation appears in a 53-page staff report released by Representative Jamie Raskin, the committee’s senior Democrat, examining allegations involving Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Keul’s account has not been established in court, and Trump has not been charged in connection with her allegation.
What does Beatrice Keul allege?
Keul told Democratic committee staff about attending the Donald J. Trump American Dream Pageant in New York and Atlantic City in November 1993. At a press luncheon at the Trump-owned Plaza Hotel, she says Trump offered to help her obtain a US visa through associate Paolo Zampolli and secure admission to New York University.
According to the report, Jeffrey Epstein approached her after that conversation, introduced himself as a close friend of Trump and offered to cover travel and accommodation for a future gathering at Mar-a-Lago.
Later the same day, Keul says, a Trump representative invited her upstairs for a private meeting. She alleges Trump then raped her in a Plaza Hotel suite, causing bleeding and bruising. She told staff that afterwards he pressed her to remain silent and repeated his offers of assistance.
Keul says she finished the pageant, returned to Switzerland and declined another pageant invitation. She also alleges Trump called her in Switzerland months later with further offers of help, which she refused. All of these details are allegations recorded from Keul’s account, not independently proven findings.
How does the new account differ from what she said in 2024?
Keul spoke publicly about an alleged encounter with Trump before the 2024 US presidential election. In accounts reported by The Independent in October 2024 and Swiss newspaper Blick in November 2024, she described unwanted kissing and touching and said she had managed to resist or halt his advances.
The new report contains a materially different and more serious allegation of completed rape. Its own footnote acknowledges that Keul previously said she had talked Trump down during an attempted rape and states that this section rests solely on committee staff’s extensive conversations with Keul over several weeks.
The difference between the two public accounts is important. The committee’s report offers Keul’s later testimony but does not provide an independent judicial determination of what happened inside the hotel suite.
What has the White House said?
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis rejected the claims on 27 October, telling Tyla: “None of these allegations are true.” She described the Democratic report as politically motivated and said Trump had been exonerated in relation to Epstein.
That is the White House’s position. The release of a congressional staff report is not a criminal charge or a court verdict, and the White House denial does not itself resolve the disputed account.
Why does Jeffrey Epstein feature in the report?
The report examines accounts involving 11 women and alleges a wider pattern of exploitation connected to Trump’s and Epstein’s social circles in the 1990s. Democratic staff say five women directly accuse Trump of rape or sexual assault in circumstances linked to Epstein. Those are the report authors’ allegations and conclusions, not findings established against Trump by a court.
In Keul’s account, Epstein approached her at the pageant, not during the alleged assault in the hotel suite. The report also presents photographs supplied by Keul that show her at the 1993 pageant alongside Trump. Such material supports their presence at the event but does not independently establish the alleged rape.
What is confirmed and what remains unverified?
- Confirmed: Democratic staff on the House Judiciary Committee published the report on 26 October 2026 and included Keul’s account of an alleged 1993 rape.
- Confirmed: Keul had previously made public allegations of unwanted sexual contact in 2024. Her latest account is more serious.
- Confirmed: the White House denies the allegation. No criminal charge or court judgment concerning Keul’s rape allegation has been identified.
- Unverified: what occurred in the Plaza Hotel suite, whether any independently corroborating evidence exists for the alleged rape and whether the allegation will be formally investigated.
The staff report was prepared by the Democratic side of the committee, not as a criminal investigation finding or a verdict of the full House Judiciary Committee. Its conclusions should be assessed in that context.
Sources
- US House Judiciary Committee Democrats: full staff report, 26 October 2026 (see pp. 16–18)
- House Judiciary Committee Democrats: announcement and summary, 26 October 2026
- The Independent: Keul’s earlier allegations, 31 October 2024
- Blick: Swiss interview with Beatrice Keul, 1 November 2024 (French)
- Tyla: White House response, 27 October 2026
