The US Justice Department is opening a criminal investigation into E Jean Carroll, who accused Donald Trump of sexual assault.
Investigators are looking into whether the former columnist committed perjury in her testimony, CNN found.
In 2023, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing, but not raping, Carroll in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
During her 2022 deposition statement, Carroll said she had no funding for her lawsuit, but it was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman paid for some of her legal fees.
After this was revealed, Judge Lewis Kaplan said he found ‘no issue’ with Carroll’s credibility.
Trump has appealed the two rulings, which found him liable for sexually abusing Carroll and another, which claims Trump defamed her in 2019 when he denied the assault.
Trump was ordered to pay $5,000,000 to Carroll for the sexual abuse case and $83,300,000 to her for the defamation case.
Since the findings were civil instead of criminal, Trump did not face jail time.
Despite losing the case, Trump called Carroll’s claims a ‘hoax’ and a ‘complete con job.’
He immediately filed a countersuit, claiming that Carroll was defaming him because he was not found liable for rape.
Attorneys for the president asked Judge Kaplan for a new trial due to the jury’s ‘seriously erroneous result’ and the ‘excessive’ amount awarded in damages. Kaplan rejected the motion in July 2023.
Judge Kaplan dismissed Trump’s countersuit as well, finding that Carroll’s statements to the media were ‘substantially true.’
Trump’s Department of Justice recently announced the creation of a $1.7billion fund to compensate MAGA supporters who believe they were mistreated by Joe Biden’s Justice Department.
The ‘anti-weaponisation fund’ was announced by the US Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leak of his tax returns.
Acting attorney general Todd Blanche said it was ‘a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponisation to be heard and seek redress’.
Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called the ‘corrupt’ and unprecedented resolution, which will be funded through taxpayer dollars.
They argue the fund would unjustly favour people close to the president and open the door to meritless claims of political persecution.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Discover more from USNewsRank
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.