Trump Wants Revenge. E. Jean Carroll Won’t Be Silenced.
Trump’s DOJ is investigating E. Jean Carroll after she beat him in court. Gretchen Carlson spoke up. The rest of us should too.
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You know this feeling. You watch a survivor finally win, finally get justice after years of being dismissed, mocked, and publicly humiliated. You exhale.
And then the regime finds a new way to punish her for daring to exist.
That is what is happening right now to E. Jean Carroll.
This week, Donald Trump’s Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into Carroll, the 82-year-old writer who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. Carroll won not one but two civil lawsuits against him, resulting in $88.3 million in judgments. Now prosecutors are examining whether she committed perjury in a 2022 deposition when she said she had not received outside funding for her lawsuit. It was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman covered some of her legal expenses.
That is the pretense.
Here is the reality: a man who owes a survivor tens of millions of dollars is using the machinery of the federal government to punish her for beating him in court.
Retribution Dressed as Justice
Let’s be precise about what this is. Trump’s acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who personally represented Trump in appeals against Carroll’s civil suits, has recused himself from the case. The investigation was quietly handed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Federal prosecutors under this administration have also targeted James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and Ilhan Omar. None of those investigations produced a conviction.
Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers continue fighting to avoid paying Carroll. A federal appeals court upheld the $83.3 million defamation judgment in September 2025. In April 2026, the full appeals court refused to rehear the case. Trump is now seeking Supreme Court review while posting a $7.4 million bond to delay payment.
He lost in court. He still refuses to let her win.
One Woman Speaking Out for Another
Yesterday, Gretchen Carlson appeared on CNN’s OutFront and said what needed to be said. Carlson, who filed her own landmark sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes in 2016 and received a $20 million settlement, called the DOJ action “very personal.”
“It is very personal to me that the President of the United States would target someone who had the bravery to come forward and report wrongdoing,” Carlson said. “As a nation, I think every American should be outraged tonight. What on earth is the Department of Justice doing? We are wasting time on cases that legal experts deem not credible, all to serve the agenda of one man, the President of the United States, who is on a retribution tour. I am angry about this.”
So are we.
This is what courage looks like: one survivor refusing to let another be isolated and destroyed for telling the truth.
What the Epstein Files Tell Us
You cannot separate the Carroll investigation from the broader pattern surrounding Trump and the men who orbit him.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department released millions of Epstein-related files. The New York Times found more than 38,000 references to Trump, his businesses, and related properties. Trump and Epstein moved in the same social circles for years, bound by wealth, access, and a documented interest in young women.
The PBS NewsHour later confirmed that members of Trump’s inner circle, including Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, maintained friendly communication with Epstein long after his first conviction.
No direct criminal evidence tying Trump to trafficking has emerged from the files.
What has emerged is a familiar pattern: powerful men protecting powerful men while institutions turn their fire toward the women willing to confront them.
The Numbers They Don’t Want You to See
This story is larger than one woman.
The CDC’s 2023/2024 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found that nearly half of all women in the United States, 45.1%, have experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetimes. More than 21% have survived completed or attempted rape.
RAINN reports that someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every 74 seconds.
And most survivors never report it.
Only about 23% of sexual assaults are reported to authorities. A 2024 Tulane University study found that 87% of women and 89% of men who experienced harassment or assault never disclosed it to anyone.
Of every 1,000 sexual assaults reported, only 5 perpetrators are incarcerated.
Five.
Survivors stay silent because they watch what happens to women who speak. They watch the humiliation. The retaliation. The public dissection of their lives.
Now they are watching the President of the United States deploy the DOJ against a woman who already proved her case in court twice.
That lesson cannot be allowed to stand.
Why Speaking Out Matters Anyway
Silence protects perpetrators. Every time.
When survivors are believed and supported, trauma outcomes improve and accountability becomes more possible. Research consistently shows that social support after assault reduces PTSD symptoms, depression, and long-term psychological harm.
Carroll did not just win for herself. She won for every person who needed to believe truth still mattered.
Gretchen Carlson did not just defend Carroll. She stood publicly beside another survivor when power tried to make an example of her.
That matters.
No shame. Not ever. Not for any survivor.
If You or Someone You Know Needs Help
Whatever brought you to this article, you are not alone.
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
Call or text: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
Online chat: hotline.rainn.org
En Español: rainn.org/es
Free. Confidential. 24/7. Anonymous.
DoD Safe Helpline
Military community
Call: 877-995-5247
Chat: safehelpline.org
StrongHearts Native Helpline
Call or text: 844-7NATIVE (844-762-8483)
Chat: strongheartshelpline.org
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Call: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
RAINN Youth HelpRoom
For ages 14-24
Anonymous group chats for young survivors: rainn.org
Find local sexual assault service providers through RAINN’s state resources page.
What You Can Do Right Now
Believe survivors. Out loud.
Support RAINN or your local rape crisis center. When governments abandon protection, communities step in.
Share this article. The more people who understand what is happening to E. Jean Carroll, the harder it becomes to normalize it.
And remember: courage is not a feeling. Courage is continuing anyway.
E. Jean Carroll has not stopped.
Neither should we.
Share this if you believe survivors deserve protection, not punishment.
Where do you think silence does the most damage?