E. Jean Carroll is upset Trump allegedly raped her 23 years ago, not that he now claims 'she's not my type'


President Trump's latest denial that he raped writer E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s goes as follows, in an interview Monday with The Hill: "I'll say it with great respect: Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, okay?" Trump has used similar language in denying some of the other dozen-plus public allegations of sexual assault against him, and also about one woman, Stormy Daniels, whom he paid $130,000 to stay quiet about their purported extramarital tryst.
Trump went on to tell The Hill that Carroll is "totally lying," that he knows "nothing about this woman," and that it's "just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that." On CNN Monday night, Carroll deadpanned to Anderson Cooper, "I love that I'm not his type." But she retold her story, which two friends say she shared with them at the time of the alleged rape, 23 years ago, and there is some similarity between her tale of shopping with Trump and Trump's recorded boast about grabbing women by the genitals that surfaced in the 2016 campaign.
Carroll described Trump's response to the myriad sexual assault allegations against him as: "He denies, he turns it around, he threatens, and he attacks." And that's true in this case, whether you believe Carroll or Trump.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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