It was Donald Trump’s sole appearance in the rape case that could now imperil his White House return, a toe-curling on-camera moment that shattered part of the former president’s defence.
Trump was being deposed by lawyers for E. Jean Carroll, the magazine writer who has accused him of raping her in a New York City department store during the mid-1990s.
The former president’s early denial was a typically Trumpian torrent of vitriol. “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened,” he said when the allegation first surfaced in 2019.
Yet as he appeared for an on-camera deposition ahead of the two-week trial, Trump appeared unable to distinguish Caroll from one of his ex-wives.
“That’s Marla. That’s my wife,” he said, referencing his second wife, Marla Maples.
In fact, Trump was looking at a photograph of himself with Carroll and his first wife, Ivana.
Asked to confirm that he was referring to Carroll in the picture, Trump readily agreed. It was then that his legal team informed him that he was not looking at his ex-wife, but his accuser.
E. Jean Carroll walks out of Manhattan federal court in New York. Photo / AP
The slip up, Carroll’s lawyers argued to jurors, proved that Trump was lying when he claimed the writer was not his “type”.
The jury of six men and three women appeared to agree, finding Trump, 76, liable for sexually abusing Carroll, 79, after just over two hours of deliberation on Wednesday.
However, the jury in New York rejected the writer’s claim that Trump raped her.
Trump has called the case politically motivated. He wrote on his social media platform: “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS.
“THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE - A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”
Carroll had brought a defamation case against Trump after he called her claims “a complete con job” and “a hoax and a lie” on his social media platform.
The civil case is not only one of the most high-profile of the post-MeToo era, but moves the 2024 presidential race into uncharted territory.
A leading candidate in the race has now been found by a jury to have committed sexual assault.
Despite threatening to cut short a golf trip in Ireland to “confront” Carroll in court, the former president was absent from the courtroom throughout the trial.
But his videotaped testimony was a focal point of his accuser’s case to jurors. The footage may now also prove fodder for campaign attack adverts by Democrats and rival Republicans.
Several moments of Trump’s 48 minutes of taped testimony could come back to haunt him. At another point, Trump suggested under oath that Carroll “loved it” when asked about her claim she was raped.
“She loved it. She loved it. Until commercial break. It was sexy. It was very sexy to be raped. Didn’t she say that?” Trump said, referencing an interview Carroll gave after going public with her claim.
Joe Tacopina, Donald Trump's lawyer, speaks to reporters as he leaves federal court in New York. Photo / AP
Carroll claimed that she encountered Trump in the high-end Manhattan clothing store, Bergdorf Goodman. The pair teased each other to try on a piece of underwear and then ended up alone together in a changing room.
It was here, she claimed, that Trump pushed her against a wall and raped her before she fought him off and fled.
The trial was at times contentious, as Carroll sparred with Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, from the witness stand.
The lawyer repeatedly pressed Carroll over the details of her story in an effort to identify inconsistencies and questioning why she did not scream for help.
The writer’s voice rose as she argued it was precisely this line of questioning that stopped more women from coming forward.
“I’m not a screamer,” Carroll retorted. “You can’t beat up on me for not screaming.”
Her account was supported by the testimony of her friend, who said that Carroll made them aware of the incident shortly after it happened.
Carroll’s lawyers referenced other accusers’ accounts to suggest Trump had a pattern of predatory behaviour.
The case also resurfaced Trump’s now infamous comments on an “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump said he grabbed women “by the p****”.
Asked in his deposition about his claim that “when you’re a star you can do anything”, an unabashed Trump replied: “Well historically, that’s true with stars.”
