USA: Department of Justice investigates writer who accuses Trump of rape

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused President Donald Trump of sexual abuse, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The investigation is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony related to her two civil lawsuits against the president - the first alleging that Trump sexually abused her in the 1990s, and the second alleging that he defamed her by denying the accusation.

The prosecution's thesis is based on a statement given by Carroll in 2022. At the time, she said she had not received external funding for the case, although it was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman paid some legal fees and expenses.

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Carroll's team declined to comment for this story. CNN unsuccessfully attempted to contact Hoffman on Wednesday.

"We can confirm that no U.S. Attorney's Office has declined to investigate any case related to the subject of CNN's inquiry," a Justice Department spokesperson told CNN. "We will not comment beyond that."

The investigation is the department's latest move in its ceaseless efforts to meet Trump's demands to attack his longtime personal enemies.

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Under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the department has been pushing to accelerate Trump's retribution campaign. But the cases he has brought since taking office in April have been heavily criticized and are likely to face court challenges over allegations of politicization.

Blanche, however, was recused in this matter because she worked as one of Trump's personal lawyers on Carroll-related appeals, according to a source familiar with the matter. He 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's office.

Senior Justice Department officials have referred the investigation to federal prosecutors in Chicago, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Although Carroll's deposition took place in New York, one of the people who helped cover part of the writer's legal fees, Reid Hoffman, has a non-profit organization based in Chicago.

Hoffman's support for the case caught Trump's lawyers by surprise when it came to light on the eve of the trial.

In a 2022 videotaped deposition, Carroll told Trump's then-lawyer Alina Habba that no one else was paying his legal fees. But two weeks before the trial, Carroll's lawyers informed the judge and Trump's lawyers that they had obtained funding from Hoffman's nonprofit.

Carroll's lawyers said she never met or had conversations with anyone associated with the organization. Habba said in court at the time that Carroll's team "conspired to hide the truth for nearly six months."

The judge allowed Trump's lawyers to question Carroll again in a deposition, which was not made public.

When the trial began two weeks later, Judge Lewis Kaplan said he saw no problem with Carroll's credibility and barred lawyers from asking about Hoffman's financing.

Appeals to the Supreme Court
Carroll is still involved in other legal battles with the president. Juries awarded Carroll millions of dollars in damages - the president is appealing.

Trump appealed to the Supreme Court against the $5 million sexual abuse case ruling and promised to do the same in the $83 million defamation case.

The Supreme Court postponed its decision on whether to accept Trump's appeal twelve times.

The most recent postponement occurred on Wednesday morning.

Remember the case
Carroll sued Trump alleging that he sexually assaulted her and defamed her when he denied the assault.

In 2023, Donald Trump was found guilty of sexual abuse and defamation and ordered to pay US$5 million to the writer.

In the lawsuit, E. Jean Carrroll claimed that Trump raped her in 1996 in the locker room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan and defamed her in 2022 when he posted on social media that Carroll's accusations were a "hoax."

Although the federal court jury in Manhattan did not find that Trump committed rape, they awarded the former Elle magazine columnist $2.2 million for sexual assault and $2.98 million for defamation.

The following year, a different jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to Carroll for defaming her and damaging her reputation in 2019, when he first denied the rape allegation.

At the time, Trump said he didn't know Carroll, that she wasn't "his type" and had made up the rape allegation to promote his memoir.

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Source: CNN