An unsettling video has emerged from Donald Trump‘s ongoing sexual assault trial Thursday of the former president mistaking a photo of accuser E. Jean Carroll for his ex-wife, Marla Maples.
During an October deposition, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, handed Trump a photo and asked him to identify who was in it. The late-1980s photo featured Trump, his wife at the time Ivana Trump, Carroll and Carroll’s ex-husband John Johnson. In the video, Trump is able to identify Johnson, but he trips up when it comes to Carroll.
“I don’t even know the woman. Let’s see. I don’t know who — it’s Marla,” Trump said, referring to his wife from 1993-1999.
Once Kaplan clarified that Trump thought he was looking at a photo of his former wife, Trump doubled down. “That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife,” Trump said. The attorney then asked Trump to show her who he was pointing to. The woman Trump repeatedly called Maples was E. Jean Carroll.
“I don’t know. This was the picture. I assume this was John Johnson. Is that Carroll? Because it’s very blurry,” Trump said, backtracking.
In 2019, Carroll accused Trump and former CBS CEO Les Moonves of sexual assault in her book, “What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal.” Trump later said that Carroll had “made up” the allegations that he raped her in a New York department store. Carroll countered with a lawsuit, suing the former president for defamation and battery.
In the past, Trump has tried to dismiss Carroll’s allegations, claiming that the American journalist and author “is not my type.” Now it’s been revealed that Trump has confused Carroll with Maples — a woman he was married to for six years and who is the mother of one of his daughters — on at least one occasion.
Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, has already waived Trump’s right to testify, but it’s not too late for Trump to weigh in on this case. As of Friday, both the plaintiff and the defendant will rest their cases. If Trump changes his mind, the judge has said he will give the former president until Sunday at 5 p.m. to appear in court in order to give both parties “full and fair opportunity” to speak. The judge has also said the trial may conclude as early as next week.
This is just one of two lawsuits against Trump. In addition to his civil trial, he’s also facing criminal court after being charged by a New York grand jury with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. These charges include the alleged hush money payments given to former adult film star Stormy Daniels. This lawsuit makes Donald Trump the first U.S. president to be tried for criminal activity.
