The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into writer E Jean Carroll, who successfully sued President Donald Trump twice for sexual assault and defamation, CBS News reported Wednesday.
The probe is examining whether Carroll lied in a 2022 deposition when she stated she received no outside funding for her civil lawsuit against Trump, according to a source cited by CBS. Legal papers first filed by Trump’s lawyers in 2023 revealed that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman had helped cover some of Carroll’s legal fees and expenses.
The investigation is being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, one source told CBS. CNN, which first reported the story, noted that Hoffman has a non-profit organization based in Chicago, though Carroll’s deposition took place in New York.
During the appeal of the first case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that Carroll had “plausibly represented” in her deposition “that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained,” and that Carroll “simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who personally represented Trump in the Carroll appeal cases, is recused from the new investigation, a source told CBS.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.