E. Jean Carroll "was exactly" Donald Trump's type, an attorney for Carroll said Monday during closing statements in the former president's defamation and battery trial.
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In Monday's closing arguments, Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, once again played for the jury the excerpt of Trump's October 2022 deposition in which he momentarily
mistakes Carroll for his second wife.
"What did Mr. Trump do after I showed him that photograph?" Kaplan told the jury. "He looked at it for a moment and then, completely unprompted by me, he said, 'It's Marla.' She was exactly his type!"
Kaplan asserted that Trump only corrected himself when his own lawyer jumped in after realizing how potentially damaging the statement was.
"He said the photo was blurry. But that's the photo, ladies and gentleman," Kaplan said, putting the 1980s-era photograph of Carroll, her then-husband John Johnson, Trump, and his then-wife Ivana Trump on the screen in the courtroom. "The truth is that E. Jean Carroll, a former cheerleader and Ms. Indiana, was exactly Donald Trump's type."
Kaplan juxtaposed Trump's mistaken identification with his remarks on the "Access Hollywood" tape, on which he is heard
saying about women that "I just start kissing them ... I don’t even wait" and that when you're a star you can "grab them by the p----."
"What is Donald Trump doing here?" Kaplan said. "He's telling you in his own words how he treats women. It's his modus operandi."
The attorney also repeated what Trump said during his deposition about how stars get away with the conduct. "Well that's what, if you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately," Trump is heard saying.
"Fortunately or unfortunately?" Kaplan told the jury. "Who would say fortunately to describe the act of sexual assault? I know who. He thinks stars like him can get away with it. He thinks he can get away with it here."