The Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll after she won two civil judgments against President Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. The investigation reportedly examines whether Carroll committed perjury in her civil lawsuits. The focus is a 2022 deposition in which Carroll said she received no outside funding for her lawsuit. Later reporting revealed that Reid Hoffman, a LinkedIn co-founder critical of Trump, paid some legal fees and expenses. Trump’s lawyers previously argued that Hoffman's funding raised significant questions about Carroll’s credibility and suggested she tried to conceal the truth. Carroll’s lawyers said the plaintiff had no role in obtaining the funding and that Hoffman's support was irrelevant to her allegations against Trump.
"CNN first reported that, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation, the DOJ is investigating whether Carroll committed perjury in her civil lawsuits against Trump. The probe reportedly centers on a 2022 deposition Carroll gave in which she said she received no outside funding for her lawsuit. It was later revealed that Reid Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn who has been critical of the president, paid some legal fees and expenses."
"Before Carroll's sexual abuse case went to trial in 2022, Trump's lawyers told the court that the disclosure of Hoffman's funding raised "significant questions" about Carroll's credibility and accused her of trying to "conceal the truth." Carroll's lawyers countered that the plaintiff had nothing to do with obtaining the outside funding and that Hoffman's decision to provide financial support was irrelevant to Carroll's accusation that Trump had sexually abused her in a New York City department store dressing room in the 1990s."
"A jury awarded her a $5 million judgment in the case, and in 2024 Carroll won $83.3 million in damages in a separate civil case in which she accused Trump of repeatedly defaming her when he said she had filed her first case against him in an effort to sell books and was perpetrating a "hoax.""
Read at Truthout
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]