Overview
- Multiple news outlets reported late Wednesday that the Justice Department has opened an early-stage criminal inquiry into whether writer E. Jean Carroll committed perjury during a 2022 deposition in her suits against President Trump.
- The probe focuses on statements in which Carroll said no one else was paying her legal fees and on later disclosures that LinkedIn co‑founder Reid Hoffman’s Chicago nonprofit, American Future Republic, paid some costs.
- Senior DOJ officials referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and Andrew S. Boutros is reported to have opened the inquiry, while Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has recused himself.
- No criminal charges have been filed, the Justice Department declined further comment and the investigation is described by sources as in its early and fluid stages.
- Courts previously reviewed the funding issue, with a trial judge limiting questioning and an appeals panel saying Carroll plausibly forgot limited funding, and commentators warn the probe could deepen concerns about the department’s treatment of critics of the president.