Quick Take
Social media posts misidentify a woman in an old photo with President Donald Trump. She is not E. Jean Carroll, the writer who recently accused Trump of sexual assault, but is another woman who previously accused Trump of misconduct.
Full Story
The writer E. Jean Carroll recently accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s — an accusation Trump has rejected as “false.”
In fact, Trump has denied knowing Carroll. “I’ve never met this person in my life,” he said in a widely circulated statement. That is disputed by a photo of Trump and his then-wife, Ivana, greeting Carroll and her then-husband, John Johnson, at an NBC party in the 1980s.
Yet some social media users are circulating an image of Trump and a different woman to make the point that Trump has met Carroll.
“The president stated he never met the latest victim of his, Jean Carroll. Never met her. Never touched her. Never talked to her. Never heard of her. Never mentioned how rich he was. Never raped her. Not once,” the post reads. “Lying POS Rapist.”
The photo included actually shows Trump with Jill Harth, who in the 1990s sued Trump, alleging harassment and attempted rape. Harth later withdrew the lawsuit after a settlement was reached in a contract dispute between Trump and Harth’s then-fiance. The couple operated a beauty pageant with which Trump had partnered.
Harth was one of several women who publicly accused Trump of inappropriate behavior during the 2016 election.
Harth also recently weighed in on Carroll’s story, writing on Twitter that “what happened to her was almost verbatim to what happened to me at Mar A Lago in 1993.”
Carroll described Trump’s alleged assault, which she says took place in fall 1995 or spring 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in New York City, in an upcoming book. An excerpt was published on a New York magazine website on June 21.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.
Sources
Carroll, E. Jean. “Hideous Men Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he’s not alone on the list of awful men in my life.” The Cut, New York Magazine. 21 Jun 2019.
Graves, Lucia. “Jill Harth speaks out about alleged groping by Donald Trump.” The Guardian. 8 Oct 2016.
Harth, Jill (@jillharth). “Deja Vu? Kudos to @ejeancarroll for coming forward with her account. Ironically, what happened to her was almost verbatim to what happened to me at Mar A Lago in 1993.” Twitter. 21 Jun 2019.
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