One of Donald Trump’s big defenses and “gotcha” lines in denying any culpability in the lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll was that she “isn’t his type.” Trump offered that dismissal in an interview with The Hill back in 2019 when she accused him of sexually assaulting her in the mid 1990s. He has stuck with that story ever since. Of course, the implication of such a statement is that he would never even romantically pursue, let alone sexually assault someone that he wasn’t physically attracted to — therefore making her accusations invalid.
According to newly released transcripts from his deposition in the case, however, E. Jean Carroll was indeed “his type.” In that deposition, the former President was shown an older photograph of his accuser. Trump identified the person in the photograph as his ex-wife, Marla Maples. Trump and Maples were married from 1993 to 1999 and share parenthood with Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany.
“That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife,” Trump said under examination from Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, in a newly released group of excerpts from the deposition that was unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Trump’s attorney was then forced to tell Trump that he just identified Carroll as the woman he was married to and had a child with. Such a thing would strongly suggest that Trump would have been physically attracted to Carroll back in the 90s.
Last week, another newly unsealed exhibit showed that in the October meeting at Trump‘s Florida resort, Trump falsely asserted that CNN had interviewed Carroll where she claimed to enjoy being raped and that she was mentally ill. He used the TV appearance as evidence of his claims.
In reality, it was an expansion of remarks Carroll made explaining her rationale for using terminology other than the word “rape” to describe her alleged assault.
Trump often refers to CNN as “fake news.” It appears that here, the only one faking any news was Trump.
Despite these blunders, Trump kept up his bluster and made threats to both Carroll and his lawyers.
“I will sue her after this is over, and that’s the thing I really look forward to doing,” Trump told one of the lawyers during the deposition. “And I’ll sue you too because this is — how many cases do you have? Many, many cases, and I know the statements that were made — that you made. ‘Keep Trump busy because this is the way you defeat him, to keep him busy with litigation.’ So I will be suing you also, but I’ll be suing her very strongly as soon as this [is over].”
Trump also threatened to sue many other women after they brought various allegations of sexual improprieties and assaults to the nation’s attention, some of which came to light when he was running for POTUS in 2016.
He never actually sued anyone.
We also may soon learn if Trump will be forced to provide a DNA sample to the court to compare with the dress Carroll was wearing at the time of the alleged assault. Trump has refused to give a sample to the court so far.
In April, Trump is set to face a trial in federal court in New York over the claims of defamation and assault brought against him by E. Jean Carroll. The outcome of the defamation charge may be determined by the ruling of the court of appeals in D.C. regarding the Justice Department‘s ability to intercede in Trump‘s defense, as he was acting as a federal employee when he made offensive remarks about Carroll.
