The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) opened an investigation to determine whether the writer E. Jean Carroll lied during the civil lawsuit she held against President Donald Trump, whom she accused of having sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.

A person familiar with the case revealed to the AP that the investigation is being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also noted that acting U.S. Attorney 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 liable for sexual abuse and defamation for comments made in 2022, for which the writer received $5 million in compensation.

A year later, in 2024, another jury determined that Trump again defamed Carroll 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 encounter with Trump in 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, once again rejecting the accusations.