On October 19, 2022, Donald Trump sat for a videotaped deposition at Mar-a-Lago in a defamation case brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll. With Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan pressing him line by line, Trump confirmed under oath that he wrote, posted, and still stood behind each public statement he had made calling her accusation a hoax. The quoted lines below are verbatim from the excerpt of the transcript filed in the case.
The June statement, read into the record
Kaplan began with the statement Trump’s people issued in June 2019, days after Carroll first told her story in New York magazine. She read it into the record:
"Statement from President Donald J. Trump. Regarding the 'story' by E. Jean Carroll claiming she once encountered me at Bergdorf Goodman 23 years ago, I've never met this person in my life. She's trying to sell a new book. That should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section. Shame on those who make up false stories of assault, who try to get publicity for themselves or sell a book or carry out a political agenda like Julie Swetnick, who falsely accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh."
She asked who had given it out, and then whether he stood by it today:
KaplanAnd I think you've already confirmed that this is a statement that you gave to someone on your staff to give to the press?
TrumpYeah.
KaplanSitting here today, do you stand by this statement?
TrumpYes.
KaplanSitting here today, are there any inaccuracies in this statement that you now know of?
TrumpNot that I can see, no. The only thing that I would say is -- and I've just heard this -- that she has no idea when this event took place, and somehow 23 years is mentioned, 23 years ago. It's a long time. But she has no idea supposedly when this took place, what season, what year, what month, what day. She knows nothing. And for some reason, it's put down here 23 years ago. So, you know, at one point I was told 23 years. But I've heard since she really has no clue when this took place supposedly, which -- it didn't take place.
KaplanSo is it your testimony that when Ms. Carroll made her allegations, she had -- putting aside what day it happened that she had no idea whatsoever of what year it took place?
TrumpMy lawyers told me that.
KaplanI don't want to know what your lawyers told you.
[Deposition of Donald J. Trump, October 19, 2022, pp. 58-61; June 2019 statement read into the record.]
The second statement, from the tarmac
Kaplan moved to a second statement, made as Trump was boarding a helicopter, that his press office had released. Once more she asked the same questions and got the same answers:
KaplanI take it you stand by that statement today?
TrumpYes.
KaplanSitting here today, are you aware of any inaccuracies in your statement? I'm not asking about her allegation. About your statement.
TrumpNo. I think it's pretty much fine. I can't -- I haven't reviewed it in great detail, but, you know, it was standing outside of a helicopter that was getting ready to take off. But, no, that was -- that -- the statement is, in my opinion, correct.
[Deposition of Donald J. Trump, October 19, 2022, pp. 64-67.]
What was in the second statement
That statement had called her account a fabrication and her publisher into question. Kaplan pressed on the publisher:
KaplanI want to focus on the very last sentence, which says: "Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical, left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things."
TrumpYeah.
KaplanDo you know who her publisher was?
TrumpNo. I just heard it was a publisher that did some very bad books on us.
KaplanI'll represent to you her publisher was Harper Collins.
TrumpYeah. And they haven't been great.
KaplanDo you know who published your son-in-law, Jared Kushner's book?
TrumpCould be, but they published some very bad ones too.
[Deposition of Donald J. Trump, October 19, 2022, pp. 125-126.]
Truth Social, and who wrote what
Kaplan turned to the platform Trump used to reach his supporters, and to how his statements got out:
KaplanWhat is Truth Social?
TrumpIt's a platform that's been opened by me as an alternative to Twitter.
KaplanAnd your handle on Truth Social is @realdonaldtrump?
TrumpI believe so, yes.
KaplanAnd as of today, you have approximately four million followers on Truth Social?
TrumpI don't know the number. I know Truth Social is doing very well. I think it was number one ahead of TikTok, number one ahead of Twitter, number one ahead of Instagram and everyone else for the last number of days. I just noticed that. Somebody put it on my desk. They have the ratings, and they said Truth Social is hot.
KaplanAnd I'll represent to you, sir, that we looked it up, and it showed, at least as of the last time we looked, you had around four million -- a little bit over four million followers.
TrumpOn me personally.
KaplanOn you personally.
TrumpNot Truth Social, on me. I don't know. That's possible.
KaplanAnd like Twitter, people have the ability to repost, or I think as you used the expression in Truth Social, "retruth" posts that you make from your @realdonaldtrump account; correct?
TrumpI think so, yes. Yes, they do.
KaplanAnd people have the opportunity to like or heart one of your posts as well; correct?
TrumpCould be.
KaplanNow, on October 12, just a few days ago, you issued a statement on Truth Social about Ms. Carroll and this case; correct?
TrumpI believe so, yes.
[Deposition of Donald J. Trump, October 19, 2022, pp. 126-127.]
The October statement, in his own words
The third statement was the one Trump posted on Truth Social on October 12, 2022, a week before the deposition. Kaplan asked who wrote it:
KaplanAnd the statement that you posted, who wrote that statement?
TrumpI did.
KaplanYou yourself?
TrumpYeah.
KaplanDid you post the statement yourself?
TrumpYes.
KaplanAnd in addition to posting the statement on Truth Social, you also sent it to the press?
TrumpYes. It's called truth and post. We post much like -- how would you say it? We put out a statement, and we also put it on Truth.
KaplanAnd when you say you put it out --
TrumpLike a public relations statement.
KaplanIt goes, like, to an email list of reporters?
TrumpYeah, whatever. Yeah. The bigger grab is The Truth, but we also -- we call it posts. We have -- actually it's truth and post. So we call it post. But the bigger -- the more important of the two is The Truth because people are watching it.
KaplanAnd in that sentence, you just used the word "we." Does someone help you --
TrumpWell, I'm talking about me.
KaplanOkay. But --
TrumpBut when I say "we," I'm talking about perhaps Truth because Truth has, you know, people working for it, quite a few people.
[Deposition of Donald J. Trump, October 19, 2022, pp. 127-129.]
“This woman is not my type”
Kaplan read the October 12 statement aloud in full, including the line that would later run in headlines:
"October 12, 2022, statement by Donald J. Trump, forty-fifth President of the United States of America. This 'Ms. Bergdorf Goodman case' is a complete con job, and our legal system in this country but especially in New York State (just look at Peekaboo James) is a broken disgrace. You have to fight for years and spend a fortune in order to get your reputation back from liars, cheaters, and hacks."
And then:
"It is a hoax and a lie just like all the other hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years, and while I'm not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type! She has no idea what day, what week, what month, what year, or what decade this so-called 'event' supposedly took place. The reason she doesn't know is because it never happened, and she doesn't want to get caught up with details or facts that could be proven wrong. If you watch Anderson Cooper's interview with her where she was promoting a really crummy book, you will see that it is a complete scam. She changed her story from beginning to end after the commercial break to suit the purposes of CNN and Andy Cooper."
Kaplan asked whether he had read it correctly, and Trump responded in a way that became its own pull-out:
KaplanDid I read that correctly?
TrumpGreat statement, yeah. True. True.
KaplanAnd now that you've heard it again and you have it in front of you, you again confirm that you wrote the whole thing yourself?
TrumpI wrote it all myself. All myself.
KaplanDid you talk to anyone before you wrote it? Did you talk to anyone about what to say in the statement?
TrumpNo. I didn't need to. I'm not Joe Biden.
KaplanIn this statement you say, I think, for the first time that it was a charity event, that photo. It was a charity event that --
TrumpThat was what I was told, yeah. I was told it was a charity event. Nobody knows which event it was, but it was like a charity event.
[Deposition of Donald J. Trump, October 19, 2022, pp. 129-134; October 12, 2022 Truth Social statement read into the record.]