Ryan Lucas

Well, the investigation is being handled by the U.S.

Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Illinois, and it stems from a lawsuit that E. Jean Carroll filed and won against Trump.

A source familiar with the matter tells me the focus of the investigation right now is a nonprofit, American Future Republic, and funding that it provided to pay for some of Carol's legal expenses.

Now, the nonprofit is backed by Reid Hoffman.

Hoffman is a billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn.

He's a major donor to Democratic Causes.

I'm told that investigators are looking into potential money laundering and obstruction.

But there's some conflicting information on whether Carol herself is currently under investigation.

The U.S.

Attorney's Office in Chicago put out a statement last night saying media reports that it had opened an investigation into Carroll were false.

But one source tells me prosecutors are examining whether Carroll committed perjury, while another says Carroll is not currently under investigation, but certainly could be as the probe moves forward.

Neither Carroll nor her attorney provided comment, and Hoffman couldn't be reached for comment.

That's right.

A deposition in 2022.

Now, Trump accused Carroll of lying in that deposition about who was paying some of her legal fees.

Carroll said no outside folks were chipping in to help out with the bills.

It later came out that Hoffman's nonprofit was helping out.

An appeals court later looked at that very issue after Trump challenged the verdict in the lawsuit, and the court found that there was no evidence to suggest that Carroll personally secured the outside funding.

And it said that Carroll had plausibly forgotten about the funding, and evidence showed she, quote, was simply not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs.

That's what a three-judge