The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The investigation is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the president — one alleging he sexually abused her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, and a second for defaming her when in 2019 he repeatedly denied the assault, said she wasn’t his type, and claimed she made it up to boost sales of a book.

Focus on Perjury Allegations

Prosecutors’ theory hinges on a 2022 deposition statement by Carroll, 82, that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit, though it was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman had paid some legal fees and expenses. According to CNN, this discrepancy has raised questions about the accuracy of her testimony. The probe is the latest move in the department’s efforts to meet Trump’s demands to target his long-standing personal foes, according to the same source. Under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the department has pushed to speed up Trump’s campaign of retribution. But the cases he’s brought since taking the reins of the department in April have been heavily criticized and are likely to face challenges in court over allegations of politicization.

Legal and Political Context

Tribunals that found Trump responsible for sexual assault and defamation ordered him to pay the writer more than USD 90 million, but the president continues to appeal the cases. According to The New York Times, the investigation seeks to determine whether Carroll lied under oath during the legal processes that led to multimillion-dollar condemnations against Trump for sexual assault and defamation. In one of the lawsuits, Carroll alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in the fitting room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in New York in 1996. In May 2023, a federal jury in New York concluded that Trump had assaulted Carroll and then defamed her by publicly denying the allegations. In that case, it awarded her USD 5 million.

Leadership and Recusal

Blanche has been recused from this matter because he worked as one of Trump’s personal attorneys on the Carroll appeals, according to a source familiar with the matter. Blanche has not attended meetings or been involved in discussions about the investigations, and the investigation is being overseen by other officials in the deputy attorney general’s office. Carroll’s team declined to comment for this story. Attempts to reach Hoffman on Wednesday were unsuccessful.