Trump's Beauty Queen Accuser: Why I Live in Fear | The Daily Beast Podcast

She has alleged that. once was at this pageant that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her, groped her. After this beauty pageant in 1993, and then claims that he threatened her afterwards. Warning. Bad things can happen to you if you speak out. She says a lot of the women. who have made similar allegations, and then there were 28 of them, we count, have made allegations against Donald Trump in this regard, have also received threats. So she's she says she fears for her life. A lot of the time for speaking out.

I'm trying to cause this is the Daily Beast podcast. And today we have a fascinating conversation for you. It's by our correspondent Tom Lachance, who is the author of the Punch Up Substack newsletter. And this week he's written a three part series with the most alarming allegations. against Donald Trump, brought by a former Miss Switzerland, a beauty pageant queen who ran into Donald Trump while she was.

summoned to meet Donald Trump when he was running the pageant. And, of course, Jeffrey Epstein was also involved. Anyway, it's a really fascinating story. Before we get to it, I just want to remind you, the reason we can bring you these. independent conversations is because we are independent media. We appreciate your support. We would love you to subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

And you can become a friend of The Daily Beast, which has all sorts. of tantalizing membership perks. So subscribe away. And now let's get into it with Tom. Tom. For those who haven't yet subscribed to Punch Up, and I'm sure. by the end of this conversation they will have what can they expect? What what have you been writing about? Just explain it to people. Why haven't you subscribed? That's the big factor.

We've been going for three months. Yeah, three months now. And. The ambition was Simon. I've done everything in the media, but my more recent hat. is being an investigative journalist and. doing a punch up. I want to say gets in the weeds because that sounds boring and it's not boring. The entire point is that it isn't boring. It's called punch up for a reason. And the reason is we punch up to power, we punch up to authority,

and we like a punch up. I am based in the UK. I'm trying to bring some of the skills that I learned as a tabloid journalist, which I have been for 20 years on Fleet Street. The better qualities of those skills, rather than some of the nefarious ones, which I know that you can be found for, but those skills that are seen as the best in the world for for rightfully, I think, but bringing it to an American audience.

and doing it for good and representing the people, the American taxpayer, who are getting ripped off by this government. Okay, so, Tom, you've got a three part. series on Punch Up on Substack this week. Why don't you explain what it's actually about? Because it's a riveting story. So we obviously want people to go and read it. So I'll try to be a.

not give too much away. But we dropped the first one on Monday and then the second part on Wednesday, and then the final part today on Friday. And it's an interview with a woman named Beatrice Cool. And she was a former. miss runner up. miss Switzerland in the early 1990s, but also a banking executive. And she had a very brief foray. into the world of Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump.

and others in that world, as we know. Donald Trump used to put on beauty pageants. Well, he owned the Miss Universe contest, right? A lot of it was held in Donald Trump's. The Hotel in the Plaza, and she's previously spoken out. She's one of 28 women who've made in the past. We think that the tally is 28. who have made allegations of sexual assault against Donald Trump. He has denied all of them, but.

he has not sued any of them, which I find intriguing. So, Tom, what is it that Beatrice Cool is actually alleging? She was a former Miss Switzerland. She's she was a runner up as Miss Europe. She met Donald Trump as part of the beauty pageant world. What is she alleging exactly? Well, she has alleged that when she was at this pageant. that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her, groped her after this beauty. pageant in 1993, and then claims that he threatened her.

afterwards, warning bad things can happen to you if you speak out. But she now is in the 50s, and she says that she's faced. similar threats since from anonymous sources where people, for instance, when Virginia Giuffre died, she received a message from an AI spoofed phone number. with a spoofed message saying we know where you are and we're going to get you. now, we're not suggesting that Donald Trump is that.

She says a lot of the women. who have made similar allegations, and then there were 28 of them. We count have made allegations against Donald Trump in this regard, have also received threats. So she's she. she says that she fears for her life a lot of the time for speaking out. And what kind of an assault was it? And of course, the irony is you've been running the story this week, the very week that the Supreme Court threw out Donald Trump's.

accusations against Aegean Carol for having defamed him. Yeah. She says that he told he she was summoned to his room. by an aide, and Donald Trump was there, and he groped her. and she made a big fuss, screamed, kicked off and was only able to get away. She felt, because she was a she was a banking executive. So she's got a different life. She's not a particularly vulnerable woman or she wouldn't regard herself as such.

And so she says that in a different me or a different person might well have. just just not done anything. But she didn't. She made a fuss, kicked off, and then was, she claims, was told by him that you keep quiet about this. Effectively you keep quiet about this or bad things will happen to you. And then said the show must go on. So he says to her, the show must go on. So he's, she alleges, groped her, sort of grabbed her.

She fights him off because she's not looking to make a future. as a beauty queen. This is something that she does in her spare time. She's actually a banking executive, so she she fights him off, she's screaming, she's making a lot of fuss, and he goes, never mind, the show must go on. What did that signal to her? Well, it felt to her as though this wasn't the first time he'd done it. It was easy. It was an easy thing. It's like, well, show must go on. Just as though this was not his first rodeo, so to speak.

And when these allegations were first brought, Caroline Levitt said that they were fake allegations. So why is Beatrice cool speaking out to you now? I mean, you've got a lot of detail here. Well, she has been heartened by Michael Wolff, for example, and feels that his evidence around. Epstein has led to an empowerment among survivors.

like her of Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, etc., etc. and she feels that the more people that speak out, the more likely it is. that it's going to elicit other people to speak out. And she feels like a damn will burst. There will come a point where a dam will burst. My optimism. I hope that there are more answers for these people, but all we can do as reporters is, is report their. stories and their testimonies and hope that it does do that. So, Tom Beatrice said that she understood that was happening.

to other young women who were beauty pageant contestants, too, right? Yes. She didn't feel like she was the sole target of any of this. No. And she saw that contestants were picked out from. one particular project called the American Dream Pageant, and they were moved on to private gatherings with men that they barely knew. by Jeffrey Epstein, who at this point was one of Donald Trump's close friends.

Yeah, she says that nothing. So she's she's she's a beauty pageant veteran. So she's been to plenty of beauty pageants that were reputable in the past. We would talk about a miss Switzerland, etc., etc. but she says nothing about this was normal. There was. It wasn't a normal. And you talk about being, you know, being picked out, going to private things. Even her own story about being asked to go to the suite.

with Donald Trump by an aide, not normal. That isn't normal. That isn't what happens. A beauty pageants. And she was she said that it just felt iffy and off at the time. I don't think she necessarily realized. what was going on because she was 23. She was coming from. a normal beauty pageant background, and this wasn't. But now, in retrospect, she feels like there was. I mean, certainly Jeffrey Epstein was using them.

to target and prey upon young women. Whether or not Donald Trump knows Donald Trump has denied any involvement. in any of this, she alleges after she was groped, was talking about, you know, Donald Trump saying the show must go on, etc. one of the questions he asked her, she says, is, have you spoken to Jeffrey? By which, of course, she meant Jeffrey Epstein. It's not a common name. It was the time when most of us could agree on the basic facts.

Now one headline says one thing, another says the exact opposite. And somewhere in between, you're left wondering who to trust. That's why I like ground news. Instead of telling you what to think, it lets you compare. how the same story is covered across the political spectrum. Take a recent story I've been following, haven't we all? Donald Trump's plans. to renovate the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on ground news. I can instantly compare how different outlets are covering the same story.

It tracks which outlets are reporting on, what stories, which angles are being emphasized, and, just as importantly, which stories might be getting ignored altogether. Ground news features a helpful bias bar that highlights the publication's. political lean ownership and reliability ratings, giving you the context. that is so often missing from today's newsfeeds. If you're tired of outrage, algorithms, and endless confusion, Grant news offers a smarter way to stay informed. Go to Groundhog.

For a better way to stay informed. That's ground dot forward slash beast. Subscribe for 40% off the vantage plan for unlimited access. to world news coverage through my link. Jeffrey Epstein was trying to recruit her. as he had done Glenn Maxwell to his network. Yes, she said he felt like she felt like she was prey to Jeffrey Epstein.

Fresh meat. His girls were fresh meat. Pray they are the sort of words that that Beatrice used. Pretty incendiary words. But words that I, you know, that she genuinely believes were applied to her. So what did Beatrice tell you about Jeffrey Epstein? What did she say about him? Well, she said that he'd introduced himself backstage at that. beauty contest in New York as, quote, Don's best friend, and that she says that he invited her to a party at Trump's.

Mar-A-Lago resort and promised, I'll take care of you. I mean, she thought he was gross. She thought Jeffrey Epstein was absolutely gross. Not interested in. the slightest in him, she said he was a complete chancer. He felt like a he was a bluffer. And everything he said was a bluff. Because she's from a world in which, you know, people. I suppose in banking as well. People say bold things and don't mean it. So she's like, I know what a bluffer is. I can tell what a bluffer he's saying.

He can do this for me, do that for me, do that for me. And it was just a sales patter, just a sales patter to get me to his parties. And she said I was having none of it. So in today's Substack, you make an astonishing allegation. reporting what. Beatrice said about the involvement of Ivana Trump. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? I mean, obviously we want people to go and read it in context in, in the Substack,

but this was an allegation that I hadn't come across before. No. So Ivana is from Eastern Europe. Of course, originally from Czechoslovakia. And Ivana Trump, of course, we should just remind people, is Donald Trump's first wife? Yes. And she is dead, so she can't defend herself. And that's important to say as well. But she was from Czechoslovakia, and. a lot of the women who were trafficked. were from Eastern Europe and around the world. They weren't just American young American women, many of the complainants.

And she says that Ivana had a role. And I won't say much more than that, because I would like to go and read the story. But the story is pretty explosive, and I think it's worth a read. And it's interesting how women have a role. in the recruiting of other women. And Beatrice felt that Jeffrey. Epstein might be trying to recruit her, perhaps for that. I mean, she wouldn't know at this point the extent of his network, but she felt.

there was something more to him than just I'll look after you at a party. Yes. She felt it was weird. Right? But she's 23. She has no experience of anything like this before. But she's not stupid. She's not daft. And then as time went by and more and more of this stuff starts. coming out, I mean, she won't have known who Jeffrey Epstein is. I mean, he's not exactly a high profile figure, is he? He's just a bloke in a, you know, a badly dressed bloke that says he's Donald Trump's best friend.

You'd be like, I don't know who this guy is, but. But when time comes out and you put the new and survivors start coming forward. and obviously my wolf's work, etc., etc., she's like, oh, hang about. Yes, okay, that makes complete sense. And it brings it into clarity. And she now is working with other survivors as well. You know, they all talk to one another and discuss the many overlaps. and similarities in their testimonies and stories.

And and often when people are building, when police are building cases. very, very difficult to build these cases right against people in its concert, sexual assault because they are innately private. But so what they tend to do is they look at patterns. And so she is talking and she's seeing these patterns now 30 years ago. But now they obviously have a huge resonance. And she, you know, she really keen to stress, in a large part because of Michael Wolff's tapes and Michael Wolff's work. So that's why she, she thinks more and more people.

are beginning to speak out because they're being they're being believed now. And you need to see the Aegean Carol stuff that we were talking about earlier. People feel like they're more likely to be believed now, but whether or not they think that it's worth. the risk that they might get threatened, for instance, for instance, if, as she says, she has been regularly through these dodgy. phone calls for the last year or so, the most recent being about a month ago, whether they'll worth doing so is is another matter.

And that obviously be a bit be a great shame. So what else is Beatrice planning to do with this, Tom? I mean, she came out two years ago and talked about it. She talked to you? What else does she want to do to get the story out there. and to keep the pressure on the authorities to do something. Which is writing a book which is with her lawyers now, in which I believe, as I understand it, she will go further than she has.

With what? With what she has with us. What that is. I'll leave that to her. That's her story to tell. But just anything that she can do. And this is why she was so keen. to do this with me, I think she probably would be interested. in doing the podcast as well at some point, because she does want to get that story out. As many people that can hear about this, the better she thinks, because as I mentioned earlier, she feels like there's a dam going to break and the more water. or survivors or voices or whatever it wants it to be will burst that down. And you think. Well, we we definitely love to talk to her.

And her story is resonant of a story with Stacy Williams, who we've interviewed a few times on the podcast, and he's been a very articulate survivor, talking about her relationship. with Jeffrey Epstein, who she alleges took her to Donald Trump's apartment. in Trump Tower, where Donald Trump then. groped her in front of Jeffrey Epstein. And afterwards she realized that the whole thing.

she thought was, she alleges, had been set up in advance. That you talk about the overlap, Joe. Yeah, that is the overlap. So, you know, you talk about overlaps. That part of tech, Jeffrey Epstein, out of that story. That story is almost exactly the same. So and she's been again, Beatrice has been heartened by seeing Stacy on your podcast. So so in a way that sort of that's the sort of the proof of the pudding. that by speaking out and being a voice and being regular and talking about it.

and, you know, having no shame, there's no, no. shame attached to any of these women. for what they're saying and what they've been through, that more will feel hard to come out, or someone will hear something. and they'll go. It'll spark another thought, because of course, you know, it's just cool. Was her thought was sparked by Michael Wolff's. story two years ago. So? So it's all just these little interconnecting parts and just becomes. a sort of groundswell that will hopefully lead. to, well, what does she want?

Justice for everybody. An interesting to be living in Switzerland. and watching the story from 4000 miles away. Yes, but still doesn't feel safe, which is fascinating, I think. Right. And we had another of Epstein's friends actually on the podcast, Cleo Glide, who was also a model who had sort of fought him off on his plane. when he'd come onto her but didn't take him seriously.

as a sexual threat, so spent a lot of time tooling around with him, enjoyed the fact that he had access to important people. She enjoyed sort of being in that power. circle of his, while remaining. eyes open as to the kind of guy he was. And then he also took her to Donald Trump's apartment, where he wanted her to dress as a nurse. And in fact, he took another of her friends. So the two of them trotted down Fifth Avenue, each of them.

on Jeffrey Epstein's arms to Trump's apartments. So again, another synergy with the story. that Beatrice Cool is is telling. And all. Doesn't it seem to be like, to be honest, like, like many things that we might even talk about in a minute, but the other things. I'm doing with Punch Up, so much of it relates to money, doesn't it? You know, it's people show people are attracted to wealth, they're attracted to money, they're attracted to power.

And it makes people act in ways that they might not otherwise. So, Tom, what else can we expect to see from punch up this week? You had another story here about. who is Richard Lance Shroyer. Please tell us. He's your new Ice director. Ladies and gentlemen, he is the latest pick to replace. Todd Lyons, who left in at the end of May. So a lot of the stuff that you'll see on Punch Up.

I've done I do plenty on the white House on Donald Trump. But a lot of things that I do are related to DHS. So, yeah, this guy sure was announced. by Donald Trump on. that day, I think, last Saturday. And so I immediately hit my contacts and said, who is this guy? And everybody said, yeah, we don't know why. It turns out he's Mark Wayne Mullins old mate. He used to he used to be on his personal security detail in Oklahoma, and in fact,

was so close that Mark Wayne Mullen would invite him in for dinner, I found. So that's just a very small vignette inside a much greater article. that I've written. But the biggest. and most interesting part of the article that I've written details. the sort of power players. that are going on inside the white House is that it had blindsided. And that is a quote from a source. But this is multiple sources have told me it had blindsided. both Tom Homan, who is Donald Trump's borders are.

But more than that, and more intriguingly than that, also a blindsided. Stephen Miller, who is his deputy chief of staff and immigration lead. Now, if that's true, my sources. say that that is very much given the distinct impression. that Stephen Miller is being, quote, boxed out of the white House. So this is Mark Wayne Mullins friend from Oklahoma, who, it should be said, does have a law enforcement background because he was a former highwayman.

Yeah, but no, no management experience. He's got he's never managed a massive budget like this. You know, you're talking like tens of millions of dollars in budget. They've got 32, I think 32,000 staff. So, you know, this is a complete other level. And all my sources say that senior agents on the ground age, a senior. officials on the ground agents are livid that this guy is coming in. And he's a former highway patrolman. He's like a trooper. Yeah. And he's got no experience with the I think they're called the 287,

which allows law enforcement people to work with with with Ice. He's got no experience of that, which is a big deal in that world. And they and it's causing mutiny inside DHS. And actually, not only that the prediction is, is that it will cause a mass exodus. People people will quit ice from throughout, from top to bottom because of it, because they think that he's going to make them look like idiots.

Well, they can't look more like idiots. than Greg Bovino made them look in Minneapolis. Well, we'll be watching Shroyer. as he progresses in the job. Richard Lance Shroyer. It does suggest that Stephen and his power is on the way. and inside the white House. And that's what. Tom that will definitely be one to watch. Thank you so much for joining us. And again we're just referring people to your Substack Punch Up. It's full of details.

No one as you as you have pointed out, no one has contacts. let you do inside the Department of Homeland Security. We thank you for your reporting, and we look forward to tracking. the new head of Ice, Richard Lance Shroyer. Me too. Well, I, for one, am very curious to know what else Beatrice School has to say. And I really recommend Tom Lachance three part series on Substack.

We're going to flash up a QR code so you can subscribe to it from here. And of course, more of Tom's reporting on Richard Lance. Shroyer, the former highway patrolman now in charge of Ice. If you have been, thank you for joining us. Don't forget to subscribe to The Daily Beast. Become a friend of The Daily Beast, and you can join me in thanking. our esteemed production team Ryan Murray, John. Romero, Rachel Passer, Heather Passaro, and Neil Rosenhaus.

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