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Former President Donald Trump messed up his marriage details during depositions played for the jury during a New York civil defamation case against him.
Former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll sued Trump in 2019 and again in 2022 for repeatedly defaming her, claiming she was lying after she came out with sexual assault allegations against him. Carroll claimed in 2019, when Trump was still president, that he had raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. The 2022 lawsuit first went to trial and a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation last May. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
Last week, the trial for Caroll's 2019 lawsuit began. This trial is only to determine how much Carroll will be awarded by Trump in damages. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over the trial, ruled in September 2023 that the jury's verdict in the 2022 lawsuit was enough to find Trump liable for defamation for statements he made about the allegations in 2019.
Carroll is now seeking $10 million in damages, meanwhile, Trump has maintained his innocence in both lawsuits and continues to deny that he sexually assaulted Carroll. He has claimed this case, along with the four criminal cases and one other civil case he is facing, is politically motivated as he is the GOP front-runner in the 2024 presidential election.
On Thursday, a deposition from Trump was shown in court at the request of Carroll's lawyer. Trump was asked in the deposition video, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter, by Inner City Press reporter Matthew Russell Lee, "When were you married to your first wife Ivanka [sic]?" Lee later clarified that he meant to write Ivana, not Ivanka.
The former president answered: "1978 to the early 90s," according to Lee's post.
However, Trump married his first wife Ivana in 1977 after they met in New York the year prior, according to multiple media reports. Ivana, who died in July 2022, went on to have three children with Trump— Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. The two divorced in 1992 following Trump's affair with Marla Maples, which was all over the tabloids.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's and Carroll's lawyers as well as Trump's campaign via email for comment.
Senior legal correspondent for The Messenger Adam Klasfeld, who is covering Thursday's court session, shared on X what Trump said in deposition from October 2022. "Asked about what years he was married to Marla Maples, Trump stumbles before telling Carroll's lawyer he can get her that information," Klasfeld wrote in a post.
Trump soon married Maples after his divorce from Ivana was finalized. The two were married from 1993 until 1999. Trump and Maples have a daughter, Tiffany, together.
The former president has been married to former first lady Melania Trump since 2005. Shortly after getting married, they had their son Barron.
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About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more