E. Jean Carroll, a journalist and the woman who accused Donald Trump of sexual assault and defamation is now facing a criminal investigation from the Department of Justice over alleged perjury connected to the two lawsuits she brought against the U.S. president.
Trump has been accused of many bad things in the past. In this case, Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the nineties. In 2023, Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation for comments made against the journalist in 2022. Carroll was awarded $5 million. Then, in 2024 Trump was found liable for defamation again for separate comments made about Carroll in 2019, this time she was awarded $83.3 million.
According to CBS News, the decisions made by the courts being upheld after an appeal. Now, Trump has made it clear he intends to do what he can to overturn both. He has also continued to deny the allegations of sexual assault made by Carroll.
So why is E. Jean Carroll under investigation?
The theory of the case against her depends on whether or not she lied during her 2022 deposition about receiving outside funding for the lawsuit. She claimed that she had received no funding but later it was revealed that the co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, had helped to pay for some of her legal expenses.
This information was presented by Trump’s attorneys before the first defamation trial. The issue was also brought up during the appeal but the court found that Carroll had “plausibly represented” in the defamation. Instead the court claimed “it showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs.”
It’s unclear what Donald Trump or the justice department is hoping to achieve with this new criminal investigation.
Published: May 28, 2026 03:30 pm