Justice Department Opens Perjury Inquiry Into E. Jean Carroll, Source Says

The US Justice Department has opened a perjury investigation targeting E. Jean Carroll, the advice columnist who won a civil judgment against Donald Trump in 2023, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The inquiry, confirmed to France 24 on 28 May 2026, marks an extraordinary escalation in the legal confrontation between Carroll and the president she first publicly accused in 2019. The Justice Department has not commented publicly on the investigation.

Carroll alleged that Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996. Trump denied the claim, calling it a "hoax" and "made-up story." In May 2023, a jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York found Trump liable for sexual abuse, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages. A second trial in January 2024 added $83.3 million in damages after a jury found Trump had defamed Carroll by repeatedly calling her accusation a "complete scam" and a "con job." Trump has appealed both verdicts.

The perjury probe — which targets statements Carroll made during the civil proceedings — lands in a politically charged environment. Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a longtime Trump loyalist, runs a Justice Department that has already moved to drop several federal cases against the president, including the classified documents prosecution in Florida. Opening an investigation into a central witness in a case that produced documented findings against Trump is consistent with that pattern, though the department has not publicly framed the Carroll inquiry as related to its broader posture on matters involving the president.

The legal basis for a perjury charge rests on whether Carroll made false statements under oath during the 2023 or 2024 trials. Prosecutors would need to establish not only that specific statements were untrue but that she acted with corrupt intent — the standard threshold for the offence. Carroll's attorneys have not responded publicly to the inquiry as of Wednesday. Her previous legal team, led by Roberta Kaplan, argued throughout the civil proceedings that Trump's own public statements — including a 2005Access Hollywood tape in which he boasted about non-consensual contact — were consistent with Carroll's account.

Civil cases operate on a preponderance of the evidence standard — the lower threshold used in Carroll's trials — while criminal perjury requires proof beyond reasonable doubt. Legal observers noted that converting a civil loss into a criminal investigation of the opposing party is unusual, particularly when the underlying facts have already been adjudicated by a jury. "The timing and sequencing here are doing a lot of work," said one former federal prosecutor who asked not to be identified discussing an active matter. "You don't typically see the Justice Department reopening factual findings from a concluded civil case."

Carroll's allegations first became public in June 2019, when she published a memoir detailing the encounter. Trump denied the claim within hours. The case languished for years because of overlapping statutes of limitations and Trump's success in twice obtaining dismissals — first on immunity grounds, then on forum-shopped state court removal — before Kaplan's team found a federal defamation route that reopened the litigation. The 2023 verdict was the first time a court — civil or criminal — found Trump liable for sexual assault.

For Carroll, the perjury inquiry represents a reversal of fortune in a case that already cost her years of litigation, significant personal exposure, and a defamation judgment she may never fully collect given Trump's asset structures and ongoing appeals. For the administration, the inquiry signals a willingness to use federal law enforcement instruments against critics who have secured adverse findings in court. Whether the investigation proceeds to charges or serves as a pressure mechanism may depend on factors not yet visible in the public record. The Justice Department has not set a timeline for any announcement. Carroll's representatives have not commented on the inquiry.

This publication covered the 2023 and 2024 civil trials in depth, tracking each phase of the litigation from opening arguments through the damage awards. Wednesday's perjury inquiry represents a material escalation of the legal posture between the parties and warrants continued monitoring.

Wire provenance

This editorial synthesis draws on the following public wire/social posts:

• https://t.me/france24_en/28258