The deployment of the Department of Justice to harass and punish Carroll represents a grim fusion of two longstanding trends. Donald Trump is turning the organs of the state against his personal enemies, as seen in the criminal investigation launched into E Jean Carroll. This is a troubling, dark turn.
The Background of the Case
Donald Trump is accused of raping E Jean Carroll, the magazine writer, in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump denies this, as he denies all the sexual abuse allegations made against him by more than two dozen women. However, a federal jury found him liable for sexual abuse, and another jury found he defamed her when he claimed she lied. She didn't lie.
Trump has vowed to appeal the rulings but has been frustrated: a federal court panel declined to hear his appeal of one verdict, and the US Supreme Court has delayed a decision on another appeal 12 times. Carroll won two judgments: $5 million for sexual abuse and defamation, and over $83 million for defamation. Trump likely has the money to pay, but Carroll hasn't seen a dime, and it's unclear she ever will.
Trump's Campaign of Retaliation
Trump has waged a long campaign of retaliation against Carroll, continuing his abuse with public statements deriding her character and appearance. He famously claimed he couldn't have raped her because she was "not my type." An appeals court found that Trump "never wavered or relented in his public attacks" against Carroll.
Now, these attacks have escalated as Trump deploys federal power against her. On Wednesday, CNN reported that the Justice Department is launching a criminal investigation into Carroll. The prosecutors claim that Carroll's legal battles were funded by Reid Hoffman, the billionaire LinkedIn founder. In a 2022 deposition, Carroll said she didn't receive support for her lawsuit. Such alleged false statements are common in civil litigation and rarely criminally pursued. But now, this forms the pretext for a retaliatory legal ordeal.
A Grim Fusion of Trends
The deployment of the Department of Justice to harass and punish Carroll represents a grim fusion of two trends: Trump's use of federal agencies for retribution against personal enemies, and the post-#MeToo use of retaliatory legal proceedings by abusive men against women who accuse them.
Since his return to power, Trump has used the DOJ to pursue prosecutions of people who investigated, sued, or embarrassed him. A criminal inquiry was opened into Letitia James after her office pursued a civil fraud case against Trump. Federal prosecutors investigated Jerome Powell after clashes over monetary policy. John Bolton was indicted over classified information, and James Comey faced a criminal inquiry over a social media post.
The Carroll investigation also exemplifies the trend of retaliatory lawsuits against sexual violence accusers. Since #MeToo, defamation lawsuits have been used to silence women, punish disclosures, and intimidate others. Johnny Depp's trial against Amber Heard is a prominent example.
Together, these projects merge in the investigation into Carroll: using the federal government to silence Trump's enemies and using retaliatory lawsuits to silence sexual violence victims. They are attempts to reassert control over reality, punish dissenting voices, and establish the authority of abusive men to dictate truth.
Trump has long claimed this power over reality—when he defamed Carroll and when he decried unflattering reporting as "fake news." Unfortunately for him, reality doesn't work that way. The public can still see when he is lying and understand what he has done. The facts do not care about his feelings.
