Friday, May 29, 2026 - 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, 82,
committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the
president. The first lawsuit alleged Trump sexually abused Carroll in a New
York department store in the mid-1990s, and the second centered on defamation
when he repeatedly denied the assault in 2019, claiming she made it up to boost
book sales.
Prosecutors’ theory hinges on a 2022 deposition statement by
Carroll where she stated she received no outside funding for her lawsuit. It
was later revealed that billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman had paid
for some of her legal fees and expenses.
Carroll’s legal team declined to comment on the
investigation, and attempts to reach Hoffman were unsuccessful.
The probe is the latest move in the department’s ongoing
efforts to target individuals viewed as the president's high-profile
adversaries. Under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who took reins of the
department in April, the Justice Department has pushed to accelerate these
high-profile investigations, drawing heavy criticism and legal challenges over
potential politicization.
Because Blanche previously worked as one of Trump’s personal
defense attorneys on the Carroll appeals, he has been formally recused from
this matter. Sources familiar with the situation note that Blanche has not
attended meetings or participated in discussions regarding the case, leaving
the investigation to be overseen by officials in the deputy attorney general’s
office.
Senior leaders at the Justice Department referred the
investigation to federal prosecutors in Chicago. While Carroll’s initial
deposition took place in New York, the referral was routed to Illinois because
an organization tied to Hoffman, who helped cover the legal fees, is a
nonprofit based in Chicago.
The issue of external funding first caught Trump’s legal
team off guard on the eve of the original trial.
During the 2022 deposition, Carroll testified to Trump’s
attorney, Alina Habba, that no outside entities were paying her legal fees. Two
weeks before the trial, Carroll’s attorneys notified the judge and Trump's team
that they had secured funding from Hoffman's nonprofit. Carroll’s lawyers
maintained she had never met or spoken with anyone associated with the
organization.
Habba argued in court that Carroll's team "conspired to
conceal the truth for nearly six months.
"The judge allowed Trump’s attorneys to question
Carroll again in a separate deposition, which remains sealed. However, once the
trial began, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that he saw no issue with Carroll's
credibility and barred Trump's defense team from asking about Hoffman's funding
in front of the jury.
Carroll remains locked in multiple legal battles with the
president. Juries previously awarded Carroll a combined $88.3 million in
damages across the two cases, which Trump is actively appealing.
Trump has appealed the $5 million sexual abuse judgment
directly to the Supreme Court and has pledged to do the same with the $83.3
million defamation verdict. The Supreme Court has deferred its decision on
whether to take up Trump’s appeal twelve times, with the most recent deferral
issued Wednesday morning.
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