Justice Department Launches Criminal Investigation Into E. Jean Carroll, Trump Accuser

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll over whether she committed perjury during testimony connected to her civil lawsuits against President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The inquiry centers on a 2022 videotaped deposition in which Carroll said no one else was paying her legal fees, a statement prosecutors are now examining because later disclosures showed that billionaire Reid Hoffman had helped cover some of her legal expenses through his nonprofit. Carroll, 82, has not publicly commented on the investigation, and her lawyers declined to speak to CNN. Hoffman could not be reached for comment.

The case adds a new criminal dimension to the long-running legal battle between Carroll and Trump. Carroll sued Trump in one case alleging that he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, and in a second case alleging defamation after Trump repeatedly denied the accusation, said she was not his type, and claimed she fabricated the story to promote a book. A jury awarded Carroll damages in both cases, including millions of dollars in compensation, and Trump has appealed those judgments.

According to the report, the Justice Department’s move reflects the broader push by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to advance Trump’s efforts to target people the president sees as personal adversaries. Blanche has been recused from this investigation because he previously served as one of Trump’s personal attorneys in the Carroll appeals. The matter is being handled instead by other officials in the deputy attorney general’s office.

Senior Justice Department leaders referred the case to federal prosecutors in Chicago, even though the deposition occurred in New York. That referral appears to be tied in part to Hoffman’s nonprofit being based in Chicago. The nonprofit’s support became an issue shortly before trial, when Carroll’s lawyers disclosed that it had helped fund some of her legal costs. Trump’s legal team argued that Carroll had concealed the information, while Carroll’s attorneys said she had never met or spoken with anyone connected to the nonprofit.

At the time, Judge Lewis Kaplan allowed Trump’s lawyers to question Carroll again in a deposition, though that testimony has not been made public. When the trial began, Kaplan said he saw no problem with Carroll’s credibility and barred further questioning about Hoffman’s funding.

Trump continues to challenge the verdicts. He has appealed the $5 million sexual abuse judgment to the Supreme Court and has said he will do the same with the $83 million defamation award. The Supreme Court has repeatedly postponed a decision on whether to hear one of the appeals, most recently on Wednesday.