Trump mistook photo of rape accuser E. Jean Carroll for ex-wife during deposition

Former President Trump mistook his rape accuser, E. Jean Carroll, for his former wife, Marla Maples, in a photo shown to him during a deposition in October, according to court records unsealed this week.

In the deposition for a lawsuit filed against him by Carroll, the writer who has accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s, the former president mistakenly identifies the author as his then-wife Maples in a photo of the two at a 1987 NBC event.

“I don’t even know the woman. I don’t know who — it’s Marla,” Trump said in the deposition from his Mar-a-Lago residence when shown the photo. Pointing to Carroll in the photo, Trump said, “That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife.”

Carroll’s lawyers interjected, telling Trump that it was Carroll he was pointing to. 

“Oh, I see,” Trump answered.

Trump told The Hill in 2019, after the allegations from Carroll had surfaced, that the writer was “not my type.”

Trump previously claimed to have never met Carroll but later said he had been made aware that there was a photo of him and Carroll shaking hands at the NBC event. 

Trump married Maples in 1993 after the birth of their daughter, Tiffany. They divorced six years later.

Carroll sued Trump in 2019 for defamation after she said he lied about the incident and vehemently denied the allegation. The deposition was unsealed this week after Trump’s lawyers dropped their opposition to the records being made public. 

In other parts of the deposition made public earlier this week, Trump continuously insulted Carroll and threatened to sue her in the aftermath of her lawsuit against the former president. 

Trump said his accuser was a “wack job,” called her “sick, mentally sick” and argued “there’s something wrong with her in my opinion,” in other portions of the deposition released this week.

The trial for Carroll’s lawsuits is set to begin in April.