Trump’s Justice Department launches criminal investigation into E Jean Carroll

Carroll sued Trump twice, once for raping her in a New York department store, and again for defaming her.

But prosecutors in the Trump administration believe she lied on the stand when she testified that she had received no outside funding for her lawsuits.

It was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman paid some of her legal fees.

Hoffman made his fortune as the co-founder of social media site LinkedIn.

Former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance has dismissed the threat of the investigation.

“There is no grand jury in America that will indict Jean Carroll,” she said.

The case was opened by prosecutors in Chicago, where Hoffman’s nonprofit is based.

Trump must pay Carroll $115 million after a New York jury found he raped her in the mid-1990s.

But Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to intervene so he wouldn’t have to pay her.

His lawyers argue he was protected by presidential immunity because his comments about her were made while he was president.

Carroll’s defamation argument rested on the president’s accusation that she was not telling the truth when she came forward with her rape allegation.

In 2019, Trump denied ever knowing Carroll, saying she “wasn’t his type.”

A jury found she was telling the truth when she claimed Trump raped her in the dressing room of a New York department store.