What happened
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the magazine columnist who won $88.3 million in civil judgments against President Donald Trump after federal juries found he sexually abused her and defamed her by lying about the assault, CNN and other news organizations reported Wednesday. The investigation reportedly centers on whether Carroll committed perjury in a 2022 deposition when she said her lawsuit received no outside funding.
Who said what
Two weeks before the 2023 trial, Carroll’s lawyers informed the judge and Trump’s lawyers that billionaire Reid Hoffman’s nonprofit had paid some of her legal expenses. The judge “permitted Trump’s attorneys to question Carroll again in a deposition,” but “said he saw no issue with Carroll’s credibility,” CNN said. In 2024, a three-judge federal panel handling Trump’s appeals “dismissed the claim that Carroll had lied in her deposition,” The Guardian said.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who “has approved a growing number of inquiries into the president’s enemies,” is “said to have recused himself” from this matter because he represented Trump in the case, The New York Times said. Instead, senior Justice Department leaders “referred the investigation to federal prosecutors in Chicago,” where Hoffman’s nonprofit is based, said CNN.
What next?
The probe “may not necessarily result in charges being brought against Carroll,” Reuters said. But if it does, said ABC News, a number of the DOJ’s investigations “into foes of Trump” have “faced significant obstacles in the courts and grand juries.”
Carroll previously won nearly $90 million in civil judgments against Trump
