Donald Trump mistook rape accuser E Jean Carroll for ex-wife, trial told

Former US President Donald Trump mistook his ex-wife Marla Maples for journalist E Jean Carroll in a video shown during a deposition in Carroll’s civil rape lawsuit against him. Carroll has accused Trump of raping her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s, which Trump has denied. 

Lawyers for Carroll have argued that Trump’s confusion over the photo undermines his claim that Carroll is “not my type”. 

Both sides have rested their case, with Trump’s team calling no witnesses. The nine-member jury was shown a video of a combative deposition filmed last October, during which Trump continued his emphatic denials of Carroll’s accusation. 

Trump has not yet attended the civil trial and his suggestion that he might cut his ongoing golf trip to Ireland short to “confront” Carroll in court was not followed through.