'It's Marla': Donald Trump confuses rape accuser with ex-wife, trial told

'It's Marla': Donald Trump confuses rape accuser with ex-wife, trial told

Donald Trump appeared to mistake writer E Jean Carroll, who has accused him of raping her, for his ex-wife Marla Maples in a deposition played to jurors in a civil rape suit against him.

During the October deposition, Mr Trump was shown a black-and-white photo of himself speaking to people at an event.

He said: “It’s Marla,” referring to his second wife Ms Maples, before his lawyer corrected him saying: “No, that’s Carroll.”

Writer Ms Carroll, 79, claims that Mr Trump raped her in a department store changing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s, and then tarred her reputation by lying about it online – which he denies.

Ms Carroll’s lawyers have argued that the episode, made public in January, undermines Mr Trump’s argument that she was not his type.

The front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has said he could not have raped Ms Carroll, because “she’s not my type” and called the case politically motivated.

Ms Carroll, a former advice columnist at Elle magazine, is seeking unspecified damages.

A social media and marketing expert hired by Ms Carroll told jurors on Thursday that the cost to repair the reputational damage of Mr Trump’s statements could range from $368,000  to $2.8 million.