What's New Since Our Last Coverage

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll for alleged perjury, multiple outlets confirmed on May 28, 2026. CNN, ABC News, CBS News, and UPI all reported it simultaneously.

This marks the first criminal probe in the matter.

What the Investigation Is Actually About

The perjury allegation stems from a 2022 deposition in which Carroll stated she received no outside funding for her lawsuit against Trump.

Later, it emerged that Reid Hoffman — the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn — had paid some of her legal fees and expenses through a nonprofit he runs. That nonprofit is based in Chicago. The investigation has been sent to federal prosecutors in Chicago, according to CBS News.

Separately, DOJ is also probing that Hoffman nonprofit directly, multiple sources told CBS News.

What the Courts Already Said About This

The funding issue was already litigated.

Trial judge Lewis Kaplan reviewed it and saw no issue with Carroll's credibility. He blocked Trump's lawyers from pursuing the funding question during trial.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit addressed it directly in a 2024 ruling. The appeals court found Carroll had "plausibly represented" in her deposition "that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained." The court added that the testimony "showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs."

A federal appeals court already reviewed this exact issue and found it did not undermine Carroll's case or credibility. Now DOJ is treating it as a criminal matter.

The Numbers on What Carroll Won

Carroll won $5 million in the sexual abuse and defamation case from 2023.

She won $83.3 million in a separate defamation suit.

As of September 8, 2025, a federal appeals court upheld the $83.3 million judgment, calling it "fair and reasonable," according to CBS News.

Trump has appealed the $5 million judgment to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has deferred that appeal 12 times — the most recent deferral was the morning of May 28, 2026, per CNN.

The Recusal That Tells You Everything

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is recused from this investigation.

Why? Because Blanche was one of Trump's own attorneys during the Carroll appeal. He personally worked to defeat her in court. Now he serves at the DOJ that's investigating her.

The Hoffman Connection — What's Legitimate and What's a Stretch

Hoffman funding Carroll's legal fees warrants scrutiny. Third-party litigation funding — where wealthy outside actors bankroll lawsuits — is a real issue in the legal system. It raises real questions about who controls litigation strategy and why.

Hoffman told The Washington Post in May 2023: "We didn't encourage the lawsuit to happen, we only got on board after she'd already filed. My team looked at it, thought that her voice should be heard because she was challenging someone who was so much more wealthy."

Whether this satisfies a criminal threshold for a perjury prosecution is an entirely different question — and by every legal standard established in the appeals court ruling, it doesn't appear to.

A perjury case requires proving a willful false statement under oath. Carroll's lawyers say she had no direct contact with Hoffman's nonprofit. The appeals court already accepted that she forgot about limited funding she wasn't personally involved in. Forgetting is not perjury.

What the Coverage Is Getting Wrong

Left-leaning outlets like The Atlantic are framing this purely as political retaliation — a framing with merit — but they're glossing over the fact that third-party litigation funding by billionaires to sue political opponents is a legitimate transparency concern.

Right-leaning outlets pushing the "she lied" narrative need to explain why a federal appeals court already reviewed this exact issue and sided with Carroll.

The most important point: the legal standard for perjury is high, the courts already addressed this specific factual dispute, and launching a criminal probe after losing every civil round looks less like law enforcement and more like a fourth-quarter hail mary.

What This Means for Regular People

If the DOJ can open a criminal perjury investigation against a private citizen who beat a sitting president in court twice — based on a memory lapse about lawsuit funding that a federal appeals court already reviewed and dismissed — then the DOJ's criminal power is available to settle personal scores.

A weaponized DOJ is a threat regardless of who's pointing it.

The $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" settlement fund Trump announced just days ago was described by DOJ's own Trent McCotter as a remedy for "improper and unlawful" targeting of individuals for political and personal reasons.

The irony merits examination.