‘It’s Marla’: Donald Trump confuses rape accuser with ex-wife, trial told
Donald Trump appeared to mistake the woman who has accused him of raping her for an ex-wife in a video played to jurors in a civil rape suit against him.
During the October deposition, Mr Trump was shown a black-and-white photo of himself speaking to people at an event.
He said: “It’s Marla,” referring to his second wife Marla Maples, before his lawyer corrected him saying: “No, that’s Carroll.”
Writer E. Jean Carroll, 79, claims that Mr Trump raped her in a department store changing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s, and then tarred her reputation by lying about it online – which he denies.
Ms Carroll’s lawyers have argued that the episode, made public in January, undermines Mr Trump’s argument that she was not his type.
The front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has said he could not have raped Ms Carroll, because “she’s not my type” and called the case politically motivated.
Ms Carroll, a former advice columnist at Elle magazine, is seeking unspecified damages.
A social media and marketing expert hired by Ms Carroll told jurors on Thursday that the cost to repair the reputational damage of Mr Trump’s statements could range from $368,000 (£292,000) to $2.8 million (£2.2m).
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Trump will ‘probably attend’ trial
Mr Trump, 76, will not testify at the trial and has not been in the Manhattan courtroom so far.
But on Thursday, he said he “will probably attend” the trial when asked by Sky News.
Speaking at his Trump Doonbeg resort in Ireland’s Co Clare, he said: “I will probably attend [the trial] and I think it’s a disgrace that it’s allowed to happen, false accusations against a rich guy, or in my case against a famous, rich and political person.”
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan warned last week that Mr Trump could face more legal problems if he kept discussing the case.
Ms Carroll claimed after running into Mr Trump at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman, they teased one another to try on a piece of lingerie.
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She alleged they ended up alone together in a changing room, where Mr Trump pushed her against a wall and raped her before she fought him off and fled.
Two of Ms Carroll’s long-time friends have testified that she told them about the attack shortly after it occurred and said they believed her.
Since she first made her accusations in a 2019 memoir, Mr Trump has denied that a rape ever occurred or that he even knew Ms Carroll.
The trial is expected to run into next week after a day off on Friday.
