Trump’s Justice Department Opens Criminal Probe Into the Woman Who Beat Him in Court Twice — E. Jean Carroll

By: Ebenezer Adu-Gyamfi / Emmanuel Ayiku For GhanaianNewsCanada  |  May 28, 2026  |  Washington / New York / Toronto

 

 

WASHINGTON / TORONTO — In a development that has immediately ignited a fierce national debate about the independence of American justice, the United States Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll — the writer and former magazine columnist who won two separate civil jury verdicts against President Donald Trump, resulting in combined damages of over $88 million. The investigation, first reported by CNN and confirmed by multiple news organisations on Wednesday May 27, focuses on whether Carroll committed perjury during a 2022 deposition — and it has been described by legal experts and critics as the latest and most dramatic example of Trump’s Justice Department targeting his personal adversaries.

Carroll’s lawyers declined to comment on the investigation. Attempts to reach LinkedIn co-founder and billionaire Reid Hoffman — whose name sits at the centre of the perjury allegation — were unsuccessful. What is not in dispute is the political context: the probe is the latest in a series of aggressive moves by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Justice Department that critics say represent a systematic campaign of legal retribution against individuals who have crossed or challenged the President.

Who Is E. Jean Carroll — and How She Beat Trump Twice

E. Jean Carroll is a 80-year-old writer and former advice columnist best known for her long-running “Ask E. Jean” column in Elle magazine, which she wrote from 1993 through 2019. In a 2019 memoir, Carroll publicly accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City during an encounter in the mid-1990s — an account she said she had shared with two friends at the time but kept from the public for decades.

Trump denied the assault, said Carroll was “not his type,” and accused her of fabricating the allegation to sell her book. Carroll sued him for defamation over those remarks. In May 2023, a federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages. In January 2024, a second federal jury — convened to address Trump’s additional public denials and attacks on Carroll’s credibility made after he left office in 2019 — awarded her a further $83.3 million in damages. Both verdicts were upheld on appeal. Together they represent one of the most significant legal defeats any sitting U.S. president has suffered at the hands of a private accuser.

The Perjury Allegation — What Carroll Is Accused Of

The criminal investigation centres on a specific statement Carroll made during a 2022 deposition in connection with her civil lawsuits. In that deposition, Carroll stated that she had received no outside funding for her legal action — that she was paying for her own lawsuit. It was subsequently disclosed that LinkedIn co-founder and prominent Democratic donor Reid Hoffman had helped cover some of Carroll’s legal fees and expenses through a nonprofit organisation.

Prosecutors are now examining whether Carroll’s statement in the 2022 deposition constituted perjury — a criminal offence that carries serious penalties including imprisonment. The investigation is being handled out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, with U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros identified as the local prosecutor involved. The choice of Chicago — rather than New York, where the civil cases were litigated — is itself notable and has drawn questions from legal observers about the rationale for that jurisdiction.

Carroll’s legal team has not publicly addressed whether the statement about litigation funding was accurate, whether it was a misunderstanding, or whether Carroll was aware at the time of Hoffman’s involvement through the nonprofit. These questions will be central to any prosecution — and to the broader legal and public debate about whether this investigation has merit or is politically motivated.

The Acting AG Who Recused Himself — Todd Blanche’s Conflict

One of the most revealing details in the Carroll investigation story is who is not running it. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — who took over the Justice Department in April 2026 and has since been described by critics as Trump’s legal instrument for retribution — has recused himself from this specific matter. The reason: Blanche was one of Trump’s personal attorneys during the Carroll civil appeals.

Blanche’s recusal is a significant but narrow constraint. It means he personally cannot direct the Carroll investigation — but the broader Justice Department apparatus under his leadership, and under Trump’s political influence, remains in charge of prosecutorial decisions. CNN reported that Blanche has not attended meetings related to the Carroll matter. Whether his recusal genuinely insulates the investigation from political direction, or whether it is largely procedural while the broader pressure campaign continues, is a question legal watchdogs are closely monitoring.

A Pattern of Retribution — Carroll Is Not Alone

Legal analysts and civil liberties advocates have been quick to place the Carroll investigation in its broader context. CNN reported directly that the Carroll probe is “the latest move in the department’s ceaseless, and somewhat strained, efforts to meet Trump’s demands to target his long-standing personal foes.” That framing — from a mainstream news organisation relying on sources familiar with the department — is a striking characterisation of how the Justice Department is now perceived to be operating.

Since Blanche took over in April, the department has pursued multiple cases that critics describe as politically motivated. Prosecutors have faced heavy criticism for what legal scholars call “selective prosecution” — the use of legitimate legal tools to pursue targets chosen for political rather than purely law-enforcement reasons. The cases brought under Blanche have been described as likely to face significant challenges in court on exactly these grounds.

For Carroll herself, the investigation represents a new front in a battle she has already won twice in civil court. Having prevailed before two separate juries, having had both verdicts upheld on appeal, and having successfully established — in a court of law — that Trump sexually assaulted and defamed her, she now faces the prospect of a criminal prosecution by the very government whose leader she defeated. The legal and moral symmetry of that situation is not lost on observers across the political spectrum.

Why This Matters for Canada and the Ghanaian-Canadian Community

For Ghanaian-Canadians and all Canadians watching American politics from across the border, the Carroll investigation is another data point in a pattern that has been developing since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025: the systematic use of federal government power — the Justice Department, the IRS, immigration enforcement, and now potentially criminal prosecution — against individuals who have challenged, criticised, or defeated the President in legal proceedings.

Canada’s own relationship with the United States has been tested repeatedly under Trump’s second term — from tariff wars to the suspension of the joint defence board to the repeated suggestion that Canada should become the 51st state. The Carroll investigation adds another dimension to that concern: if the world’s most powerful democracy can use its Justice Department as a tool of personal political vengeance, what does that signal to allies, trading partners, and democratic neighbours like Canada about the reliability of American institutions?

 

 

By: Ebenezer Adu-Gyamfi / Emmanuel Ayiku  |  GhanaianNewsCanada  |  May 28, 2026

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