Donald Trump apparently mistook the woman who has accused him of rape – E Jean Carroll – for his ex-wife Marla Maples in a deposition played for jurors at his civil rape trial.
Mr Trump was shown a photo of himself speaking to other people at an event when he says “it’s Marla,” before his lawyer corrected him, the BBC reports.
“No, that’s Carroll,” the lawyer could be heard saying in the footage.
Ms Carroll, 79, accuses Mr Trump, 76, of sexually assaulting her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s. Mr Trump has denied the allegations.
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Ms Carroll’s lawyers have argued that Mr Trump’s comments in the deposition undermine his repeated claim that Ms Caroll is “not my type”.
Mr Trump has not attended the trial – which is coming to an end after two weeks of proceedings – although he has suggested that he might cut his golf trip short to “confront” Ms Carroll in court.
“I’ll be going back early because a woman made a claim that is totally false, it’s fake,” he said while in Ireland visiting his golf resort.
The former president’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, has told the judge in the case that Mr Trump would not be testifying in court. The judge said he would give Mr Trump until Sunday afternoon to decide whether he wishes to attend the proceedings.
In his deposition with Ms Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, Trump insisted that if the attack had happened, “it would have been reported within minutes” because it was a “very busy store”.
Ms Carroll has delivered graphic testimony of the alleged incident and said she was left “unable to ever have a romantic life again”.
Her account of the alleged assault was supported by friend Lisa Birnbach, who testified in court that she received a call from Ms Carroll minutes after it happened.
Two other women called by Ms Carroll’s legal team both described alleged sexual assaults committed by Mr Trump. He denies the claims.
