Attorney Roberta Kaplan, most recently representing E. Jean Carroll v. Donald TrumpIn a podcast interview that aired Friday, the former president said he became upset during a deposition after learning his lawyers had agreed to provide him with dinner and that he had used a vulgar expression at a separate point.
Kaplan recalled his relationship with Trump during the meeting episode From the “George Conway Explains It All (to Sarah Longwell)” podcast. The deposition was held at Mar-a-Lago, and he said Trump argued over whether they should take a lunch break and advocated that they continue to work directly with him.
Kaplan quoted Trump as saying: “This is a waste of my time.
Kaplan said he then saw Trump’s “wheels turning in his head” and asked what he would have for dinner since he was on Mar-a-Lago, an island excluded from commercial zones.
“So I said to him, ‘Well, you know, I raised this issue with the attorneys yesterday, and they graciously offered to have us have lunch.'” At that point, he had a large stack of documents, exhibits, sitting in front of him, and he took the stack and just threw it on the table. Kaplan said.
“He actually yelled at Alina about it. He was very angry with Alina,” he added, referring to Trump’s attorney Alina Habba.
After lunch, after continuing the deposition, Kaplan said Trump asked him how he liked his meal.
“I said, ‘Sir, I had a banana. You know, I can never eat when I’m testifying,'” Kaplan said, adding that Trump was “kind of charming.” “He said: “I said. I told them to make you some really bad sandwiches, but they can’t help themselves here.
During the episode, George Conway, a fierce Trump critic and attorney himself, noted that it is customary for opposing rights groups to offer each other lunch.
At the end of the deposition, Kaplan said Trump’s lawyers asked to be “off the record,” meaning what he said would not be included in the transcript of the court testimony. Kaplan said Trump then told him, “I’ll see you next Tuesday.”
Kaplan said he didn’t know what the slang term meant and didn’t until colleagues informed him later.
“They tell me, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’ thank God I didn’t know, because if I did, I would definitely be pissed off. I definitely would be pissed off,” Kaplan said.
Requests for comment were not immediately returned by Trump or an aide to Habba.
Kaplan recently represented E. Jean Carroll in her lawsuit against Trump a jury found that the former president owed her more than $83 million in damages for defamation.