By Maribel Velazquez
He United States Department of Justice (DOJ) opened an investigation to determine if the writer E. Jean Carroll He lied during the civil trial he held against the president donald trumpwhom she accused of having sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.
A person familiar with the case told the AP that The investigation is being conducted by the Northern District of Illinois Attorney’s Office.. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also noted that the acting prosecutor Todd Blanche recused himself from the investigation because he previously legally represented Trump.
Trump faces record of civil convictions
Carroll accused the president of sexual assault and defamation. In 2023, A jury found Trump responsible for sexual abuse and defamation for comments made in 2022, for which the writer received compensation of $5 million.
One year later, in 2024, another jury found that Trump defamed Carroll again for statements issued in 2019. In that case, The compensation amounted to $83.3 million. Both decisions were later upheld on appeal.
Carroll’s version and Trump’s response
The writer, a New York resident, maintained that what began as a chance meeting with Trump at a Bergdorf Goodman store ended in a sexual assault inside a locker room. According to his story, he managed to escape after a “colossal struggle.”
Trump has repeatedly denied the accusations and claims that the incident “never happened” and that “I have never seen this person in my life.”
“No photographs? No surveillance? No video? (…) it never happened”declared the president when once again rejecting the accusations.
Keep reading:
- Documentary about E. Jean Carroll, who sued Trump, will premiere in the US in May.
- Trump asks the Supreme Court to overturn his sentence for abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll
