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Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker
Washington: The top federal prosecutor in Chicago denied his office had opened an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the long-time advice columnist who has said Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York department store 30 years ago, hours after multiple news organisations reported the US Justice Department was investigating whether Carroll had lied during the course of civil litigation against Trump.
The Associated Press and other news organisations, citing anonymous sources, reported on Wednesday (Washington time) that the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago had opened an investigation into Carroll examining possible perjury allegations.
But Andrew Boutros, the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, issued a statement roughly 24 hours after the first report was published, saying that his office “has not opened – and has never opened – a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll”.
A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, initially told the AP on Thursday morning that investigators were focused on Carroll, but later clarified that the actual focus was on a non-profit that had helped fund her case.
A lawyer for Carroll declined to comment through a spokesperson on Thursday.
The Justice Department investigation into Carroll was first reported by CNN on Wednesday evening.
Reports of the investigation added to the perception from Democrats and other former officials that a Justice Department meant to make prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House was being weaponised against the president’s political enemies. Trump’s Justice Department has opened multiple investigations into perceived adversaries of the Republican president, including securing an indictment last month against former FBI director James Comey.
Carroll has said a flirtatious, chance encounter with Trump in 1996 at Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan ended violently. She said Trump slammed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her. Trump has called the allegations a “made-up scam”, and he has attacked her motivations, saying they were politically driven or arose from a desire to promote her memoir.
A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her, and she was awarded $US5 million ($7 million). The following year, another jury awarded Carroll $US83.3 million in a defamation case related to Trump’s social media posts about her.
The reports this week said the Justice Department was scrutinising a statement Carroll made in the course of the civil litigation that no one else was paying her legal fees. It later became public that a Chicago-based organisation backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped fund Carroll’s case. Trump’s lawyers in the civil case accused Carroll of concealing that information, which they said called into question whether the case was politically motivated.
Multiple news organisations, including The Washington Post and NBC News, cited unnamed sources in reporting on Thursday (Washington time) that the investigation was actually centred on Hoffman’s non-profit, which the person familiar with the matter confirmed to AP.
A month before the first trial in 2023, then-Trump lawyer Alina Habba sought to delay it, saying in court papers that new revelations about Hoffman partially funding Carroll’s case “raises significant questions as to Plaintiff’s credibility, as well as her motive for commencing and/or continuing the instant action”.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, in a December 30, 2024, ruling, upheld the $US5 million jury award from 2023. The court addressed Carroll’s credibility after Trump accused her of lying, during a deposition, about how her case was funded.
The court cited Carroll’s explanation that when the question about Hoffman’s contributions was first posed to her in 2022, she had forgotten about “the limited outside funding” received in September 2020.
“It showed that Ms Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the appeals court said.
Hoffman has defended the financial assistance, saying in a social media post that “supporting women’s fight for progress and justice in philanthropy, politics and business has been a longstanding priority of mine, as is supporting America against the threat of Trump”.
A court entry earlier this month said Trump would not have to pay the award until the US Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal. The appeals court agreed to a request by one of Trump’s lawyers that it let Trump delay the payment to Carroll, though he was required to post a $US7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs, a request Carroll’s attorney had made.
AP
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