US President Donald Trump's Justice Department is going after E. Jean Carroll, a former columnist whom the POTUS was found to have sexually assaulted in the 1990s. The DoJ has launched a criminal probe into Carroll, US media reported late Wednesday (May 27). Trump, who is currently serving as the US president for the second time, has repeatedly urged his Justice Department to take action against his enemies. The latest investigation is set to focus on whether the former columnist committed perjury in her two civil lawsuits against the businessman turned politician.
Who is E. Jean Carroll?
E. Jean Carroll is an American Journalist and former advice columnist who won two high-profile civil lawsuits against Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation.
In November 2019, she sued Trump under New York's Adult Survivors Act, accusing him of raping her in a department store dressing room in Manhattan in the 1990s. Subsequently, a federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse. In the second case, she accused Trump of defamation over his malicious public comments denying the assault and defaming her. Trump had publicly sought to describe Carroll as "not his type" and had claimed that she was concocting the abuse to boost her book sales. Carroll won this case as well.
Across both civil cases, Carroll was awarded a combined $88.3 million in damages.
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Trump's DoJ to probe his victim
According to reports by CNN and The New York Times, federal investigators are now examining whether Carroll committed perjury during testimony connected to her two civil lawsuits against Trump.
The investigation reportedly centres around a 2022 deposition in which Carroll stated that she had not received outside funding for her legal battle against Trump. It was later revealed that some legal expenses were reportedly backed by billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
CNN reported that the criminal inquiry is being handled through the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has reportedly recused himself because he previously worked on one of Trump’s appeals linked to the Carroll cases.

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