Donald Trump says he hasn’t read the book accusing him of rape

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NEW YORK –

Former US president Donald Trump says he has not read any part of a book in which columnist E. Jean Carroll accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, according to court records were unsealed Wednesday.

Trump was questioned under oath in October by lawyers for Carroll, who is suing the Republican. During his 5 1/2-hour deposition, Trump said he had not read Carroll’s book, “What Do We Need Men For?” and did not find excerpts of it in a New York magazine article when the book was released in 2019.

Portions of Trump’s deposition transcript were ordered unsealed from court records by a judge presiding over a trial.

Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, accused Trump in the book of assaulting her at an upscale Manhattan department store in late 1995 or early 1996 after they met by chance and exchanged words. of friendly banter about who should try on a piece of underwear.

After the book was published, Trump said the encounter never happened and said Carroll was fueling book sales. He also said he had never met Carroll and dismissed him as “not my type.”

He said a photo showing him with Carroll and their wives at an event in 1987 seemed like a memorable encounter in a receiving line.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, asked Trump if he had read the book or any part of it.

“No, never have. I’ve never seen the book actually,” he answered.

Kaplan also asked Trump about the black-and-white photo showing him with Carroll, his wife, and Trump’s then-wife, Ivana Trump, who died in July at age 73.

Trump pointed to Carroll in the photo and said: “It’s Marla.”

“You’re saying Marla is in this photo?” Kaplan asked.

“That’s Marla, yeah. That’s my wife,” Trump replied, according to the transcript, apparently referring to Marla Maples, whom he married years after the photo was taken.

Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, interjected to say: “No, that’s Carroll.”

“Oh, I see,” Trump then said.

Excerpts of the four dozen pages of transcripts released Wednesday came a week after several dozen other pages were unsealed by the court.

Habba did not immediately comment Wednesday. Kaplan declined comment.

The deposition was videotaped, but the recording was not placed in the public record for two lawsuits seeking unspecified damages that Carroll brought against Trump.

Carroll initially sued him for defamation, saying his statements damaged his reputation. In November, she filed a separate lawsuit alleging she was owed rape damages, a legal recourse that became possible when New York state enacted a temporary law allowing adult victims of rape to sue their abusers, even if the assaults happened decades ago.

In the pages unsealed Wednesday, Kaplan asked Trump if he was talking about Carroll’s physical appearance in the photos when he said he wasn’t his type.

“Physically she’s not my type, and now that I’ve gotten indirectly to hear things about her, she wouldn’t be my type in any way, shape, or form,” he said, calling her accusation “ridiculous.”

Late in the deposition after Trump described Carroll as a “sick woman,” Kaplan confronted him with the accusations two dozen women had made against him, asking: “They’re all sick, right? “

Trump responded: “I don’t know any of these people or very many of them. I mean, every once in a while, you get — I think a lot of famous people have cases thrown at them, and a lot of some of them are false and some of them are true. But in my case –“

“Nothing true?” Kaplan interrupted.

“I would say. I mean, I don’t see anything. I mean, you haven’t shown me anything,” Trump responded, according to the transcript.

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