Former President Donald Trump mistook E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused him of rape, for his ex-wife Marla Maples in a photo he was shown during a deposition, newly unsealed court documents show.
An excerpt from October. declaration released by the US District Court for Southern New York on Wednesday includes an exchange in which Carroll’s attorney asked Trump about a black-and-white photograph showing a small group of people, including Trump and Carroll.
“That’s Marla, yes. That’s my wife,” Trump said, referring to Maples.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, corrected the mistake, saying, “No, that’s Carroll.”
Trump’s comments under oath threaten to undermine his repeated denials of Carroll’s allegations, claiming that she is “not my type.”
Trump was married to Maples from 1993 to 1999. Carroll, 79, has alleged that Trump attacked her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.
NBC News has asked Habba for comment.
Maples, 59, was the second of Trump’s three wives; the couple had a child together, Tiffany Trump. In 2005 he married Melania Trump.
Trump, who has launched a 2024 presidential bid, asked a federal judge to dismiss Carroll’s lawsuit last week. Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Trump’s request and ordered that parts of the declaration go public.
In the above excerpt, Trump denied the allegations and repeatedly insulted Carroll, calling her a “nutty” who is “not my type.”
The case is expected to go to trial in April.
dareh gregorian contributed.
