Justice Department Investigates E. Jean Carroll for Potential Perjury

2026-05-28

The BareStory

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation to determine whether writer E. Jean Carroll committed perjury during her civil lawsuits against President Donald Trump. The inquiry is being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has recused himself from the investigation due to his previous role representing Trump in the related civil litigation. Representatives for both Carroll and the Justice Department have declined to comment on the ongoing probe.

According to sources, the investigation centers on a 2022 deposition in which Carroll testified that she received no outside financial support for her legal costs. It was later disclosed that billionaire Reid Hoffman helped fund her expenses. During a subsequent appeal, a federal court ruled that Carroll plausibly forgot about the external funding, noting she was not involved in managing her litigation costs.

The underlying lawsuits stem from Carroll’s allegations that Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York City department store dressing room in the 1990s, claims Trump has repeatedly denied. In 2023 and 2024, civil juries found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll nearly $90 million in total damages.

While the financial judgments were upheld by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Trump recently petitioned a federal appeals court in New York to pause its ruling so his legal team can pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Left Perspective

Shield Against State Retaliation
Safeguard of Civil Precedents
Preventing Victim Chilling Effects

Right Perspective

Enforcement of Objective Law
Exposing Hidden Financial Lawfare
Restoration of Blind Justice

Left Perspective

• Shield Against State Retaliation The Left views the DOJ investigation as a targeted mechanism to punish an individual who successfully held a powerful figure accountable. Because a federal court already ruled that Carroll plausibly forgot about Reid Hoffman's funding due to her lack of involvement in managing litigation costs, reformers see this perjury probe as politically motivated overreach. The core priority is protecting civil liberties by ensuring the state prosecutorial apparatus is not weaponized to intimidate those who challenge the status quo.

• Safeguard of Civil Precedents The underlying value is protecting the integrity of the institutional progress achieved in the civil courts. Reformers interpret the criminal investigation as an asymmetrical attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the juries that found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. They view the prosecutorial fixation on external funding as a deliberate distraction designed to delegitimize the $90 million in damages awarded to a victim of assault.

• Preventing Victim Chilling Effects The long-term risk perceived by this camp is the severe deterrence this investigation could create for future survivors of abuse. If winning a landmark civil judgment against a well-resourced abuser results in a federal criminal probe over administrative cost discrepancies, reformers fear the systemic barrier to justice will become insurmountable. They argue this dynamic threatens to permanently silence marginalized populations who lack the institutional protection to weather state scrutiny.

Right Perspective

• Enforcement of Objective Law Traditionalists prioritize the strict, impartial application of legal standards, viewing perjury as a foundational threat to judicial integrity. Because Carroll testified under oath in a 2022 deposition that she received no outside financial support, only for it to be revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman funded her expenses, this camp views the DOJ probe as a basic requirement of legal hygiene. The core value is that sworn testimony must remain factually absolute, regardless of the plaintiff's public standing or sympathetic profile.

• Exposing Hidden Financial Lawfare This camp values transparency and systemic fairness, harboring deep skepticism toward coordinated institutional maneuvering. The revelation of undisclosed billionaire funding behind a highly politicized lawsuit validates traditionalist concerns that the original civil litigation was a manufactured effort to damage a political opponent. They see the Northern District of Illinois' inquiry as a vital mechanism to uncover whether undisclosed third-party influence corrupted the proceedings that led to the $90 million judgment.

• Restoration of Blind Justice The long-term priority is preserving public trust in the structural reliability of American jurisprudence. Traditionalists point to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s immediate recusal as evidence of the system operating with proper ethical guardrails and procedural integrity. They fear that excusing a major deposition discrepancy merely because a federal court deemed it a "plausible" memory lapse degrades the strict accountability required to maintain civil order and the true rule of law.

How it may affect me

As a U.S. reader:

• In the long term, this investigation may deter marginalized populations and abuse survivors from bringing lawsuits against well-resourced individuals, as they may fear federal criminal retaliation over administrative or financial discrepancies.

• The public could face stricter legal transparency requirements regarding third-party litigation funding, with courts enforcing stricter perjury standards to expose undisclosed financial influence in civil cases.

• Short-term uncertainty may arise surrounding the finality of civil court verdicts, as the situation demonstrates how criminal probes into a plaintiff's conduct could be utilized to challenge or undermine established jury awards.

• Public confidence in the structural reliability of the justice system will be tested as citizens evaluate whether ethical procedures, such as the recusal of conflicted officials, successfully preserve objective law or fail to prevent politically motivated government overreach.

Justice Department Investigates E. Jean Carroll for Potential Perjury

The BareStory

Left Perspective

Right Perspective

How it may affect me

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