The Swiss model had publicly described an alleged encounter with Donald Trump in 2024. A new House Democrats' report contains a more serious account, while the White House denies the allegations.
Thirty-three years after Beatrice Keul says she encountered Donald Trump at a New York beauty pageant, her account has returned to the spotlight in Washington.
The former Swiss model and Miss Switzerland finalist has told investigators that Trump sexually assaulted her at the Plaza Hotel in 1993, a claim now detailed in a report released by Democratic staff on the House Judiciary Committee. The White House has denied the allegation, and Trump has not been charged in connection with Keul's claim.
But there is another part of the story that makes the latest development more complicated.
Keul had already spoken publicly about the encounter in 2024. Her earlier account was different from the one she has now given congressional investigators.
The allegation that returned more than three decades later
The story begins inside the glamorous world of 1990s beauty pageants, where ambition, celebrity and access often occupied the same room.
Beatrice Keul was a young Swiss model and former Miss Switzerland finalist when she travelled to New York in November 1993. She had been recruited to participate in the American Dream Pageant, an event connected to Donald Trump and held at the Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time.
More than three decades later, Keul has alleged that the opportunity led to a violent encounter inside a hotel suite.
Her account appears in a report released by Democratic staff on the House Judiciary Committee on October 26, 2026. The report examines Trump’s past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and includes allegations or accounts involving 11 women.
The document is not a court judgment, criminal charge or bipartisan congressional finding. It represents the conclusions of Democratic committee staff and calls for further investigation.
Who is Beatrice Keul?
Keul is a former Swiss model who finished third in the Miss Switzerland competition and later participated in the Miss Europe contest. She also worked in financial services.
Referring to her simply as “former Miss Switzerland,” as several headlines have done, can create the impression that she won the national title. More accurately, she was a Miss Switzerland finalist or contestant.
According to the congressional report, Keul was 24 when she travelled to New York for the 1993 pageant. She says she viewed the event as an opportunity to advance her modelling career and build a possible future in the United States.
Instead, she alleges that she encountered a world in which powerful men could use career opportunities, education and immigration assistance to gain access to ambitious young women.
What Keul alleges happened at the Plaza Hotel
Keul told committee staff that she met Trump during a press luncheon associated with the pageant. According to her account, Trump offered to help her secure a United States visa and admission to New York University.
She also alleges that Jeffrey Epstein approached her after Trump stepped away, introduced himself as Trump’s friend and offered to arrange travel and accommodation for a gathering at Mar-a-Lago.
Later that day, Keul says a Trump representative asked her to meet Trump in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. She alleges that Trump attacked and raped her there, leaving her bruised and bleeding.
The report says Keul completed the pageant while frightened and disoriented before returning to Switzerland. She allegedly declined an invitation to participate in another Trump-associated pageant in Hawaii several weeks later.
Keul also told investigators that Trump contacted her in Switzerland months afterward and again offered help with a visa and university admission. She says she rejected the offer.
These details come from Keul’s account to Democratic congressional staff. No court has determined that the alleged assault occurred.
Trump and the White House deny the accusation
The White House has forcefully rejected Keul’s allegation.
“None of these allegations are true,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement reported by People.
The White House described the committee report as a politically motivated attempt to damage Trump ahead of the United States midterm elections. It also maintained that Trump ended his association with Epstein and has been cleared of wrongdoing connected to him.
Trump has not been criminally charged over Keul’s allegation. The account has also not been independently verified by the news organisations reporting it.
That distinction is essential. A congressional report can bring allegations into public view and recommend an investigation, but it does not establish criminal guilt.
Why Keul’s earlier account is attracting scrutiny
Keul’s encounter with Trump was not disclosed publicly for the first time in 2026.
In 2024, she told the Daily Mail that Trump had kissed and touched her without consent and attempted to lift her dress during an encounter at the Plaza Hotel. That account indicated that she had managed to stop the incident from escalating further.
Swissinfo reported the allegations in November 2024, noting that Trump’s campaign denied them.
The 2026 congressional report describes a more serious allegation. Keul now says Trump raped her.
That difference will inevitably become part of the public discussion. It does not, by itself, prove or disprove either version, but responsible coverage must acknowledge it.
The Democratic staff report says the newer account contains information Keul had not previously made public and was gathered through extensive conversations with committee investigators over several weeks. Keul also discussed what she described as a sexual assault during a September 2026 podcast appearance.
Why the allegation is connected to Jeffrey Epstein
The report does not present Keul’s allegation as an isolated encounter. Democratic staff place it within a broader examination of Trump’s social relationship with Epstein and the modelling and beauty-pageant world they inhabited during the 1990s.
Trump and Epstein were photographed together and moved in overlapping social circles before their relationship ended. Trump has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes and has said Epstein was removed from Mar-a-Lago.
In Keul’s account, Epstein allegedly approached her during the same pageant luncheon and offered travel and accommodation. The committee argues that promises involving education, visas, modelling opportunities and access resemble methods described by some of Epstein’s victims.
That is the committee staff’s interpretation of the available accounts, not a judicial finding that Trump participated in Epstein’s crimes.
The report calls for an independent special counsel to examine possible co-conspirators and the handling of Epstein-related evidence. Whether that demand leads to a new investigation remains uncertain.
Why the story is gaining global attention
The allegation combines several subjects that already command enormous international interest: an American president, a former beauty-pageant contestant, the unresolved questions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and the treatment of women inside industries controlled by powerful men.
It has also emerged at a politically sensitive moment. The report was released shortly before the 2026 midterm elections, giving Trump’s supporters grounds to question its timing while increasing pressure from critics who argue that the claims deserve independent investigation.
Beyond American politics, Keul’s nationality has brought the story renewed attention across Switzerland and Europe. Her experience also raises a wider question about how aspiring models from other countries can become dependent on influential figures who promise visas, education or career advancement.
That imbalance of power is part of what makes the allegation resonate beyond the individuals involved.
What happens next
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are calling for an independent investigation into Trump’s relationship with Epstein and the accounts described in their report. Any meaningful legal development would depend on prosecutors, investigators or additional witnesses producing evidence beyond the staff report itself.
For Keul, speaking publicly has placed an intensely personal allegation at the centre of a global political storm. Her account will now be examined by supporters, critics, journalists and potentially investigators.
For the public, the responsibility is different.
The seriousness of the accusation demands attention. The absence of a court finding demands caution. Both can be true at the same time.
The most honest conclusion is therefore not a declaration of guilt or innocence. It is that Beatrice Keul has made a grave allegation against one of the world’s most powerful men, Trump has denied it, and the evidence currently available to the public does not provide a final answer.
Editor’s note: This article discusses an allegation of sexual violence. Keul’s claims have not been established in court, and Donald Trump has not been charged in connection with them. The White House says the allegations are false.
