Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, a magazine advice columnist who accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s in a widely-publicized civil lawsuit, according to multiple reports.
According to CNN, The New York Times and other outlets, federal investigators are probing whether Carroll committed perjury in her two civil suits against President Trump, whom she accused of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room.
Manhattan juries found Trump liable for sex abuse and defamation, eventually ordering Trump to pay damages totaling $88.3 million. The president has denied the allegations against him.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch, who represented Trump as his personal attorney during one of Carroll’s appeals, has recused himself from the case, according to CNN.
The DOJ has mounted cases against several of Trump’s political foes during his second term, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was accused of federal bank fraud.
James described the charges as President Trump’s “vehicle of retribution.”
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to messages left seeking comment.