DOJ Launches Investigation of E. Jean Carroll

The Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into whether E. Jean Carroll perjured herself during her legal case against Trump. CNN has the details.

The investigation is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the president – one alleging he sexually abused Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, and a second for defaming her when in 2019 he repeatedly denied the assault, said she wasn’t his type and claimed she made it up to boost sales of a book.

Prosecutors’ theory hinges on a 2022 deposition statement by Carroll, 82, that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit, though it was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman had paid some legal fees and expenses…

In a 2022 videotaped deposition, Carroll told then-Trump attorney Alina Habba that no one else was paying for her legal fees. But two weeks before the trial Carroll’s attorneys informed the judge and Trump’s lawyers that they secured funding from Hoffman’s nonprofit.

Carroll’s lawyers said she never met nor had conversations with anyone associated with the nonprofit. Habba said in court at the time that Carroll’s team “conspired to conceal the truth for nearly six months.”

The acting AG recused himself from the case because he worked on Trump’s appeal in this case.

Andrew S. Boutros, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, opened the inquiry, according to the person with knowledge of the situation.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general — who has approved a growing number of inquiries into the president’s enemies — is said to have recused himself from the probe because of his representation of Mr. Trump in the Carroll case.

Just two weeks ago President Trump won a delay of his multi-million dollar judgment in the E. Jean Carroll case from 2nd Circuit.

President Donald Trump won’t have to pay an $83 million defamation award to a longtime advice columnist until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal, according to a court entry Tuesday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to a request by one of Trump’s lawyers that it let the president delay the payment to E. Jean Carroll, though it required that Trump post a $7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs, a request Carroll’s attorney had made.

Trump is clearly hoping for a reprieve from the Supreme Court. I don’t think it’s safe to assume he’s going to get one in this case but we’ll have to wait and see.

As for Carroll, her decision to not mention that someone, a progressive billionaire with obvious dislike for Trump, was backing her case during a deposition does seem a bit dubious. Does that mean she’s lying about the whole case? Not necessarily but I guess it goes to her truthfulness. 

This story just broke about 2 hours ago and that seems to be all the information that’s out there so far. We’ll hear a lot more tomorrow probably.

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