Summary<\/p>\n
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll over potential perjury in testimony during her lawsuits against President Donald Trump.
\n Prosecutors are examining whether Carroll lied in a 2022 deposition when she said no one else was paying her legal fees, sources familiar told CNN.
\n Carroll’s lawyers declined to comment for this story.<\/p>\n
\n AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.<\/p>\n
\n The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll<\/a>, the former magazine columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.\n <\/p>\n \n The investigation is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the president \u2013 one alleging he sexually abused Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, and a second for defaming her when in 2019 he repeatedly denied the assault, said she wasn\u2019t his type and claimed she made it up to boost sales of a book.\n <\/p>\n \n Prosecutors\u2019 theory hinges on a 2022 deposition statement by Carroll, 82, that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit, though it was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman had paid some legal fees and expenses.\n <\/p>\n \n Carroll\u2019s team declined to comment for this story. Attempts to reach Hoffman on Wednesday were unsuccessful.\n <\/p>\n \n The probe is the latest move in the department\u2019s ceaseless, and somewhat strained, efforts to meet Trump\u2019s demands to target his long-standing personal foes.\n <\/p>\n \n Under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the department has pushed to speed up Trump\u2019s campaign of retribution. But the cases he\u2019s brought since taking the reins of the department in April have been heavily criticized<\/a> and are likely to face challenges<\/a> in court over allegations of politicization.\n <\/p>\n \n But Blanche has been recused from this matter because he worked as one of Trump\u2019s personal attorneys on the Carroll appeals, according to a source familiar with the matter. Blanche has not attended meetings or been involved in discussions about the investigations, and the investigation is being overseen by other officials in the deputy attorney general\u2019s office.\n <\/p>\n \n Senior leaders at the Justice Department referred the investigation to federal prosecutors in Chicago, according to two sources familiar with the matter. While Carroll\u2019s deposition took place in New York, one of the individuals who helped cover some of Carroll\u2019s legal fees, Hoffman, has a nonprofit based in Chicago.\n <\/p>\n \n Hoffman\u2019s support of the case caught Trump\u2019s attorneys off guard when it came to light on the eve of trial.\n <\/p>\n \n In a 2022 videotaped deposition, Carroll told then-Trump attorney Alina Habba that no one else was paying for her legal fees. But two weeks before the trial Carroll\u2019s attorneys informed the judge and Trump\u2019s lawyers that they secured funding from Hoffman\u2019s nonprofit.\n <\/p>\n \n Carroll\u2019s lawyers said she never met nor had conversations with anyone associated with the nonprofit. Habba said in court at the time that Carroll\u2019s team \u201cconspired to conceal the truth for nearly six months.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The judge permitted Trump\u2019s attorneys to question Carroll again in a deposition, which has not been made public.\n <\/p>\n \n When the trial began two weeks later Judge Lewis Kaplan said he saw no issue with Carroll\u2019s credibility and blocked the lawyers from asking about Hoffman\u2019s funding.\n <\/p>\n \n Caroll is still embroiled in multiple legal battles with the president. Juries awarded Carroll millions of dollars in damages, which the president is appealing. Trump has appealed the $5 million<\/a> sexual abuse case judgement to the Supreme Court and has pledged to do the same with the $83 million<\/a> defamation case.\n <\/p>\n \n The Supreme Court has deferred its decision on whether to take up Trump\u2019s appeal twelve times. The most recent deferral was made Wednesday morning.\n <\/p>\n