Donald Trump, 76, is scheduled to appear in a New York court on April 10, 2023 in a defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, 79, a former columnist for Elle magazine, who accuses him of using her raped in a dressing room of a New York department store in 1995 or 1996.
For years, Trump said E. Jean Carroll was not his type. When shown a photo during his testimony, he said: “That’s Marla, yes. This is my wife.” It was a photo of Caroll, and looking at the two women, it’s easy to see why Trump was confused.
I believe E Jean Caroll. pic.twitter.com/EZxaF8ONO6
— Jane of the North (@JaneotN) January 19, 2023
The two submitted their affidavits last October. During his Oct. 19 testimony via video link — released this week — Donald Trump reiterated his line of defense: “I will say this with the utmost respect: First, she’s not my type; then it never happened. But when shown a photo of himself with E. Jean Carroll at a reception in the 1990s, he replied, “This is Marla, this is my wife,” before his own attorney, Alina Habba, corrected it. Donald Trump was married to actress Marla Maples, 59, from 1993 to 1999 and met his current wife, Melania, in 1998.
New law
In the defamation lawsuit, E. Jean Carroll sued Trump in November 2019. She alleges that he defamed her because he called her rape allegations an “outright lie” in June of that year.
Regarding the rape allegations, E. Jean Carroll was unable to file a complaint in 2019 because the alleged facts were statute-barred.
However, on November 24, 2022, a New York state law (“Adult Survivors Act”) went into effect that allows victims of sexual assault to resume their civil suit for one year. E. Jean Carroll therefore filed a new lawsuit in New York in November for “defamation”, but also “assault” and “act” and requested a civil trial for damages, which is scheduled to take place on April 10th.