This is a detail that will not fail to exploit the lawyers of E. John Carroll. accused of rape by this ex-columnist of the magazine Elle, Donald Trump confused her in a photo with his ex-wife Marla Maples, according to a court document from an October deposition in New York. Since the start of the affair, the former American president has denied and has repeatedly affirmed that the journalist was “not (his) kind”.
Donald Trump, 76 ans, scheduled to appear April 10, 2023 in a New York court in a libel suit brought by E. Jean Carroll, 79, who accuses him of raping her in a fitting room of a New York department store in 1995 or 1996.
A double civil case for alleged defamation and rape has pitted Ms. Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, once morest Donald Trump, 76, billionaire businessman and Republican president in 2017, before federal justice in Manhattan since 2019, then 2022. to 2021.
“It’s Marla, it’s my wife”
The two produced their sworn depositions last October. During his October 19 testimony via video link – made public this week – Donald Trump reaffirmed his line of defence: “I will say this with the utmost respect: first, she is not my type; then it never happened”.
But when he was shown a photo of himself with E. Jean Carroll at a 1990s reception, he replied, “That’s Marla, that’s my wife” before his own lawyer Alina Habba corrected him. Donald Trump was married from 1993 to 1999 to actress Marla Maples, 59, and met his current wife Melania in 1998.
New law in New York
In the defamation suit, E. Jean Carroll sued Trump in November 2019. She accuses him of defaming her for calling her rape allegations a “complete lie” in June of that year. The White House tenant’s lawyers claimed that he was protected, in 2019, by his immunity as head of state.
As for the accusations of rape, E. Jean Carroll had not been able to file a complaint in 2019 since the alleged facts were prescribed. However, on November 24, 2022, a New York State law came into force (“Adult Survivors Act”) allowing, for one year, victims of sexual assault to relaunch their civil legal action.
The journalist therefore filed a new complaint in November in New York for “defamation” but also “assault” and “assault” and requested a civil trial for damages, which is to be held on April 10.