The Justice Department has initiated a criminal investigation into allegations of perjury by author E. Jean Carroll in connection with her civil lawsuits against former President Donald Trump, according to sources familiar with the matter. The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
Carroll filed two civil lawsuits against Trump, accusing him of sexual assault and defamation. In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation based on comments he made in 2022, and Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages. A second jury in 2024 found Trump liable for defamation related to statements he made about Carroll in 2019, awarding her $83.3 million in damages. Both verdicts were upheld on appeal.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who had represented Trump in some of the litigation, has recused himself from the case. The investigation into Carroll’s alleged perjury centers on her statement during a 2022 deposition that she had not received any outside funding for her lawsuit. It was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped pay for some of her legal expenses.
CNN initially reported on the investigation, and CBS News has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois for comment. Additionally, inquiries have been made to Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney for the two lawsuits. Carroll’s accusations against Trump include claims of sexual assault in a New York City department store dressing room during an encounter in the mid-1990s, which she detailed in a 2019 story for New York Magazine. After a defamation lawsuit against Trump stalled in court in 2019, she filed a second defamation lawsuit in 2022, adding a claim of rape under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. Trump has consistently denied the sexual assault allegations.
The revelation of Hoffman’s financial support for Carroll’s lawsuit emerged in legal filings by Trump’s lawyers just before the first defamation trial in April 2023, as reported by the New York Times. When this issue was raised on appeal, the court found that Carroll had “plausibly represented” in her deposition that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding her counsel had obtained. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second District noted in its 2024 ruling that Carroll was not involved in the matter of who was funding her litigation costs.
In a May 2023 interview with the Washington Post, Hoffman clarified his decision to assist in funding Carroll’s legal action, stating that they only became involved after she had initiated the lawsuit. He emphasized the importance of Carroll’s voice being heard in challenging someone as wealthy and powerful as Trump.
The investigation into Carroll’s possible perjury adds another layer of complexity to the legal battles between Carroll and Trump. As the Justice Department delves into the circumstances surrounding her lawsuits, questions arise about the veracity of her statements and the impact of external funding on the legal proceedings. The outcome of this investigation could have significant implications for both Carroll and Trump, further shaping the ongoing narrative of their legal disputes.
