In November 1993, Beatrice Keul was a 23-year-old Swiss banking executive and part-time model who had placed second in Miss Switzerland and competed in Miss Europe. She traveled to New York for the Donald J. Trump American Dream Pageant. What she says happened there, in a private suite at the Plaza Hotel, is the subject of a new three-part interview published Sunday by PunchUp, the Daily Beast’s new Substack publication.
A Trump aide pulled her aside at the pageant and asked her to join Trump for a private meeting, and what Keul says followed is described with considerable specificity in the interview.
“He was grabbing and touching my body everywhere he could,” she told PunchUp. “It was violent, it was quick, it was intense. I was screaming for help, and nobody came. It was bad.” She says she talked Trump down, and after it was over, he told her to keep quiet: “Bad things can happen if you speak out.” She took it as a threat.
Epstein was also at the pageant that day, and his role in what Keul describes is inseparable from Trump’s.
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Epstein introduced himself to her as “Don’s best friend” and told her she was supposed to be his “prey.” She described the combined experience to Swiss outlet NZZ: “First, the sexual assault by Donald Trump, and then Jeffrey Epstein wouldn’t let go of me — it was like a horror show.” She told Swiss public broadcaster RTS: “I felt like Heidi propelled into predator land.” Epstein also tried to convince her to travel to Mar-a-Lago, which she declined.
Keul first went public in October 2024, and her account prompted journalist Michael Wolff to release portions of his 100-hour interview archive with Epstein, including a recording of Epstein describing himself as Trump’s “closest friend.” A New York Times investigation in December 2024 brought forward multiple additional women with similar accounts from the same era.
The Supreme Court this week rejected Trump’s bid to overturn the jury finding in the E. Jean Carroll case, which found Carroll’s sexual abuse claims credible. Keul is one of at least 28 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, all of which he has denied, calling the claims “unequivocally false” and insisting he has “never met” some of his accusers, though he has not taken legal action against Keul.
The threats Keul describes did not stop when she went public. One AI-generated audio message, received around the time of the death of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre in April 2025, said: “We know where you are, and we will get you.” She has not backed down regardless. “I stood up to the American president to save lives,” she told PunchUp. “This is my truth, and I will not be silenced.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
