Donald Trump has ordered or authorized the Department of Justice to open a baseless and clearly retaliatory criminal probe into E. Jean Carroll, who successfully sued Trump for both sexually assaulting her and subsequently defaming her.

Let us be clear: Trump is corruptly using the DOJ to attack the victim of his sexual assault.

Trump has long abused his power and privilege in an attempt to silence Ms. Carroll. In 2019, during his first term, Ms. Carroll published an account of being sexually assaulted by Trump in 1995. From the office of the presidency, Trump made numerous false and defamatory statements about Ms. Carroll and her claims. Carroll filed a defamation suit in 2019, and Trump responded by corruptly attempting to use the Department of Justice to block the suit.

In 2022, E. Jean Carroll filed a new lawsuit, after New York passed law allowing adult sexual assault victims to file lawsuits after the statutes of limitations have expired. On January 26, 2024, after a fair trial with due process for all litigants involved, the jury found that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her and ordered damages of $83 million. Trump has consistently fought against the verdict; despite losing his appeal, Trump has not paid Carroll any of the money that he owes her.

And now he is turning the might of the DOJ against her.

This is a brazen act of corruption. The DOJ has an obligation to uphold the laws of our country, and its employees—from its highest officials to the attorneys who try its cases—should be scrupulously nonpartisan, scrupulously ethical, and loyal to the country, the Constitution, and our laws. But Trump has spent the first fifteen months of his second term clearing nonpartisan career civil servants from the DOJ and turning it into a partisan weapon. He has transformed it from a legal agency that is supposed to represent the United States into his personal law firm, one whose might he has turned against the American people and anyone he disfavors. From the baseless indictments of James Comey and Letitia James, to the politically-motivated investigations of Lisa Cook, Adam Schiff and Jack Smith, to the failed indictments of Democratic lawmakers who correctly stated military officers are obliged to not obey unlawful orders, to the arrest of Don Lemon, there is no shortage of examples of Trump’s corrupt manipulation of the DOJ.

But Carroll’s investigation reveals that Trump is willing to use the machinery of the state to punish not only his political enemies, but his personal foes—in this case, his victim, a woman he sexually assaulted and then publicly defamed, who had the courage to speak out and vindicated her rights in a fair trial. This is a vicious and vindictive attack not only on Carroll, but on the rule of law—and a terrifying threat to anyone else who might speak out about the abuses for which he is responsible.

Even if the investigation does not result in an indictment—or if the indictment is successfully dismissed as vindictive—the damage has been done to Carroll, countless other victims of sexual predators, and our democracy. This investigation is an attempt to silence not just Carroll, but anyone who speaks out against Trump or his allies. If Congress fails to file articles of impeachment, the message is clear: it is ceding its own duty, thereby giving Trump a free rein to use the power of the state to terrorize anyone who dares to assert their legal rights against him. Congress much act now to impeach, convict, and remove Trump from power.