The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has initiated a criminal investigation into writer Jean Carroll, who previously accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, according to CBS News, the BBC's U.S. partner. The probe focuses on whether Carroll committed perjury in connection with the civil lawsuits she filed against Trump.
Background of the Cases
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, accused Trump of sexual assault and defamation, successfully suing him in two separate cases. Both verdicts were upheld on appeal, but Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the first ruling. He has consistently denied the allegations.
In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual assault. He was also found liable for defamation for comments made in a 2022 Truth Social post, where he denied Carroll's claim that he assaulted her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. A second lawsuit in 2024 resulted in another defamation verdict against Trump for his 2019 comments accusing Carroll of fabricating the story to promote a book.
Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the first judgment, which ordered him to pay $5 million to Carroll. He has also vowed to challenge the second case, where Carroll was awarded $83 million.
Details of the Criminal Investigation
The new criminal case examines whether Carroll lied during a 2022 deposition when she stated she received no outside funding for her civil lawsuit against Trump, a source told CBS. Legal papers filed by Trump's lawyers in 2023 revealed that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman helped cover some of Carroll's legal fees and expenses.
During the appeal, the court found that Carroll had "plausibly represented" in her deposition that "she had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained." The US Court of Appeals for the Second District ruled in 2024 that "additional discovery showed that Ms Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs."
The investigation is led by the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, as one source told CBS. CNN, which first reported the story, noted that while Carroll's deposition occurred in New York, Hoffman's non-profit organization is based in Chicago. The BBC has contacted Hoffman's non-profit for comment.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who personally represented Trump in the appeal cases against Carroll, has recused himself from this case, a source told CBS. Since returning to office last year, Trump has repeatedly called on the DOJ to prosecute his adversaries.
