The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll, the woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, according to reports from CBS News and CNN.
The investigation focuses on whether Carroll committed perjury — lying under oath — during her civil lawsuits against Trump. Specifically, officials are examining statements she made in a 2022 deposition about the funding of her legal cases.
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation, ordering him to pay Carroll $5 million. In a second case in 2024, Trump was found liable for additional defamation and ordered to pay $83 million. Both verdicts were upheld on appeal, though Trump has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the first judgment. Trump has strongly denied the accusations.
The perjury probe centers on Carroll’s claim that she received no outside funding for her lawsuits. Court records later showed that Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, helped pay some of her legal fees and expenses through his nonprofit organization. Trump’s lawyers raised this issue during the appeals process. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Carroll had “plausibly represented” that she had forgotten about the funding and was not directly involved in those arrangements.
Legal experts say the investigation does not guarantee that Carroll will be charged. Dmitriy Shakhnevich, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the BBC that it is rare for the federal government to pursue perjury charges from a civil case. Prosecutors would need to prove that Carroll knowingly and willingly lied under oath — a high standard to meet.
The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, likely because Hoffman’s nonprofit is based in Chicago. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously represented Trump in the Carroll cases, has recused himself from the investigation.
This development comes as President Trump has repeatedly called on the Justice Department to investigate his political opponents. Carroll’s lawyer has not yet commented publicly on the new criminal probe, and the Department of Justice has declined to comment.
The investigation adds another chapter to the long-running legal battles between Trump and Carroll, which have stretched across multiple courts and drawn national attention.
