Footage of Donald Trump's video deposition for the E Jean Carroll sexual battery and defamation case revealed that he twice mixed-up his accuser with his ex-wife Marla Maples.
The deposition video was released in response to a records request made by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. The released documents include Ms Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, confronting Mr Trump on his claim that she was not his "type" when denying her accusations.
“When confronted with the photo of Carroll and himself from a party before the rape, Trump twice misidentified Carroll as his ex-wife Marla Maples, insisting it was Maples smiling at him in the photo, when in fact the woman he was pointing to was Carroll herself,” she said, according to the documents.
The documents and footage showed Mr Trump saying "That's Marla, yeah, that's my wife."
Ms Kaplan then asked which woman he is pointing to, prompting Mr Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, to interrupt and say "No, that's Carroll."
"Oh, I see," Mr Trump replied.
Ms Kaplan argued that Mr Trump's inability to tell Ms Carroll from his ex-wife undermines his argument that his accuser was not his "type."
“Ultimately, Trump’s lawyer had to correct his mistake (which obviously undercut any assertion that Carroll was not ‘his type’),” the document said.
Ms Carroll's attorneys also alleged that Mr Trump did not properly research what Ms Carroll actually said before he accused her of being a political operative on a witch hunt. The team noted that Mr Trump admitted that he did not know Ms Carroll's political beliefs.
“Trump never read (or even saw) Carroll’s article or book before he set out to destroy her,” the court documents stated.
He also accused Ms Carroll of making multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against other powerful men. When pressed on why he believed that, he said "It's what I heard." When asked where he heard it, he said "I don't know."
The court documents noted that Mr Trump frequently insulted and downplayed her allegations during the deposition.
Mr Trump called her a "very deranged, sick person" who "made it up" with the intention "to sell her book or for her own ego.” He also claimed there was "something a little off with her mentally" and said he would "sue her after this is over," calling her a "wack job" and a "nut job."
The jury spent just three hours in deliberations after being given the case on May 9 2023.
In the courtroom, the clerk read the verdict: “As to battery, did Ms Carroll prove that Mr Trump raped Ms Carroll?” The jury answered “No”.
The jury also found Mr Trump liable for wonton disregard, for which Ms Carroll was awarded $20,000, according to Inner City Press.
Mr Trump was also found liable for defamation as the jury found that he made false statements about Ms Carroll.
The jury found that Mr Trump acted with actual malice and that Ms Carroll had been injured, for which she was awarded $1m. For repairing her reputation, Ms Carroll was awarded $1.7m.
