Trump’s E. Jean Carroll Investigation Comes Amid Last-Ditch Effort To Get Out Of Paying $100 Million

BreakingBusinessTrump’s E. Jean Carroll Investigation Comes Amid Last-Ditch Effort To Get Out Of Paying $100 MillionByAlison Durkee,Forbes Staff. Alison is a senior news reporter covering US politics and legal news.Follow AuthorMay 28, 2026, 12:48pm EDTToplineThe Trump administration’s reported criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll—the latest highly politicized and controversial use of his Department of Justice to pursue the president’s perceived enemies—comes as Trump is running out of options to avoid paying nearly $100 million in damages (and counting) to the writer, with the Supreme Court poised to rule on whether it considers Trump’s appeal of the two verdicts against him.E. Jean Carroll attends Equality Now's Make Equality Reality Gala on October 8, 2024 in New York City.Getty ImagesKey FactsThe Justice Department launched a criminal inquiry into Carroll and whether she committed perjury when testifying in a deposition against Trump.Carroll has accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and subsequently defaming her after she went public with her allegations, first winning $5 million at trial for defamation and assault, and then another $83.3 million for defamation in a separate case.Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations against him and tried to appeal both verdicts but has been unsuccessful in both cases, putting him on the verge of having to pay out millions.The Supreme Court is now deliberating on whether to take up the first $5 million verdict against Trump, though justices have delayed ruling on the issue for months since the president first asked the court to hear the case in November.He’s also planning to ask justices to take up the other verdict after an appeals court rejected his request to rehear the case, his attorneys said in a May court filing, asking the court to let him hold off on paying Carroll until the Supreme Court weighs in.Trump is also trying to have the federal government become a party in that second case—...