U.S. Department of Justice Launches Investigation into Trump Sexual Assault Victim

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In May 2023, a civil jury found that Donald Trump sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, and defamed her when he called her account a hoax. They awarded the victim $5 million. A second jury added $83.3 million in January 2024, bringing the total to $88.3 million. Trump appealed and lost; as of late May, the Supreme Court had not agreed to hear him.

On Wednesday the Justice Department confirmed it has opened a criminal investigation into Carroll. Not Trump, the man two juries found liable. They claim that Carroll lied in a 2022 deposition when she said no one outside was funding her suit, when it later emerged that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman had helped cover some legal costs.

The investigation was opened by Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, appointed by Trump in 2025. Carroll lives in New York. The assault happened in New York. Both trials were held there. There is no obvious reason a perjury inquiry arising from New York litigation runs out of Chicago, unless the reason is that the Chicago prosecutor is the one willing to run it.

The acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, has recused himself. His reason is that he used to be Trump’s lawyer in this case. The man running the Justice Department cannot oversee the prosecution of Trump’s accuser because he personally defended Trump against her.

CNN, who broke the story, framed it as part of the department’s effort to meet Trump’s demands to target his enemies. They are not wrong.

The Justice Department recently deleted the majority of the data on their website relating to the January 2021 insurrection attempt by Donald Trump, and the U.S. government has created a fund to pay those rioters who invaded the Capitol building on the President’s behalf. It has never been more clear that the U.S. government and its agencies are working purely on the behalf of the man in the White House.

The fact is, Donald Trump was found liable. This investigation is an attempt to undermine the lawsuit that found him liable, by a government agency who has already been busy deleting the records of Trump’s other crimes.

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