The Justice Department is reportedly launching a criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll, who parlayed unprovable allegations that President Donald J. Trump sexually assaulted her into a big payday.
In news that was first reported by CNN on Wednesday, the DOJ is probing the columnist over whether she committed perjury during a deposition in her civil lawsuits against Trump.
CNN: The DOJ has launched a new criminal investigation into one of Trump’s enemies, E. Jean Carroll. The source is telling CNN that the investigation now is focused on whether she committed perjury during her two civil lawsuits against the president. pic.twitter.com/DefQdPkGd7
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 27, 2026
According to CNN, the investigation focuses on whether Carroll gave false statements when she claimed that she didn’t receive outside funding for her legal action against Trump, who she alleges raped her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s, an accusation for which there is no proof that it ever happened.
After her 2022 deposition, it was revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman, a Democrat donor, had paid for some of the author’s legal fees and expenses. New York City juries awarded Carroll $5 million in the case alleging that Trump assaulted her and another $83 million in a subsequent defamation case.
Her lawyers later told the judge that the LinkedIn founder and vocal Trump critic had provided financial assistance.
Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations that he sexually assaulted her. His appeals are currently pending.
The CNN report cited the now-standard anonymous sources in “multiple sources familiar with the matter,” and it’s already being seized on by other media outlets as another example of Trump using his power to exact revenge against his political foes.
According to a New York Times report on the alleged probe: “The investigation comes at a volatile moment in a Justice Department that appears to be increasingly controlled by Mr. Trump, who has faced little pushback from department leadership as he accelerates his campaign of retribution against those who accused, challenged or defied him in the past.”
The paper names disgraced former FBI Director James Comey as a recent victim of the president’s “revenge tour” to punish those who have wronged him.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has recused himself from the case, according to CNN.
“Now, over at the Justice Department, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, I am told, has recused from this case because he worked on one of the appeals related to the Carroll case,” CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid said on Wednesday.
“Now, I’m told he has not attended any meetings or been in any discussions about this investigation. The case is currently being handled out of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago,” she added.
“Andrew S. Boutros, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, opened the inquiry into Ms. Carroll, according to the person with knowledge of the situation,” the New York Times reported.
Blanche was one of Trump’s personal attorneys for the appeals in the Carroll cases.
“We can confirm that no U.S. Attorney’s Office has declined to investigate any case relating to the subject matter of CNN’s inquiry,” a DOJ spokesperson told CNN. “We will not comment beyond that.”
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