E. Jean Carroll Won $88M Against Trump for Sexual Abuse. His DOJ Just Opened a Case Against Her.

The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the 82-year-old former magazine columnist who won two civil lawsuits against Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. The investigation, first reported by CNN and confirmed by ABC News, the New York Times, CBS, and others on May 27, focuses on whether Carroll committed perjury in a 2022 deposition.In that deposition, Carroll said she had not received outside funding for her lawsuit. It was later revealed that a nonprofit connected to LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman had helped cover some of her legal expenses, an arrangement Carroll’s attorneys have said she had no direct knowledge of. The same accusation was raised in court during the original litigation, and in 2024 a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the claim.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has recused himself from the investigation because he personally represented Trump in the Carroll appeals before joining the administration. The probe is being led by US Attorney Andrew Boutros of the Northern District of Illinois, a Trump appointee.The Carroll investigation joins a growing list of Trump DOJ criminal probes into the president’s political adversaries, including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Democratic members of Congress. Two federal judges have separately found prosecutorial misconduct in recent Trump DOJ political prosecutions, including the Broadview Six case and the case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.In 2023, a federal jury awarded Carroll $5 million after finding Trump liable for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. A second jury awarded her $83.3 million in 2024 in a related defamation case. Both verdicts were upheld on appeal.Sources:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/27/trump-doj-investigation-e-jean-carrollhttps://abcnews.com/US/doj-launches-criminal-probe-jean-carroll-sources/story?id=133367551https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/27/politics/exclusive-justice-department-launched-e-jean-carroll-investigationhttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-investigating-whether-trump-accuser-e-jean-carroll-committed-perjury/https://time.com/article/2026/05/28/e-jean-carroll-trump-justice-department-criminal-investigation/https://www.ms.now/news/e-jean-carroll-trump-doj-criminal-investigation Get full access to The Rogue Voice aka Linsay Rousseau at linsayrousseau.substack.com/subscribe