The Justice Department has initiated a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who successfully sued Trump in two lawsuits alleging sexual assault.
According to sources, the probe focuses on Carroll’s 2022 deposition statement where she claimed no outside funding supported her legal cases against Trump. It later emerged that far-left billionaire Reid Hoffman provided financial assistance for some of Carroll’s legal fees and expenses.
Carroll sued Trump in 2019, alleging he raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City during either 1995 or 1996. In her accounts, she described an incident that began with Trump lunging at her, pushing her against a wall, and ultimately ending with her escaping through the door.
During trial, Carroll maintained that the encounter was not sexual but a “fight,” stating: “Every woman gets to choose her word… My word is fight, my word is not the victim one. I have not been raped.” She further claimed that labeling it as rape would be disrespectful to women facing violence at the border.
The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in 2023 for sexual assault and defamation claims, which was later increased to $83.3 million following a second verdict. However, Carroll admitted during an interview that her attorneys orchestrated her appearance at trial by dressing her in 1990s fashion to present her as “fkable.”
Carroll’s legal team informed the court two weeks before trial that they had secured funding from Reid Hoffman’s nonprofit, though she claimed never having met or spoken with anyone associated with the organization. The judge permitted Trump’s attorneys to question Carroll in a subsequent deposition but did not allow evidence of the funding to be presented.
The DOJ investigation is based on Carroll’s initial statement that she received no outside financial support for her lawsuits, while it was later confirmed that Reid Hoffman provided some legal expenses.