2026-05-28T20:00:28.689Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/politics/e-jean-carroll-trump-retribution
- 唐纳德·特朗普总统领导的美国司法部存在调查与他存在重大法律纠纷的关键人物的模式。
- 最新案例是司法部正在调查E. 珍·卡罗尔——那位曾成功起诉特朗普的前杂志专栏作家。
- 可能还会有更多——代理司法部长托德·布兰奇并未否认那些起诉过特朗普的人需要接受调查这一前提。
AI生成摘要经CNN编辑审核。
代理司法部长托德·布兰奇曾表示，司法部正在协助唐纳德·特朗普总统对其政敌展开报复行动的说法“绝对不是事实”。
但与此相反的证据却越来越确凿无疑。
周三CNN独家报道称，司法部正在调查E. 珍·卡罗尔——那位曾成功起诉特朗普性虐待和诽谤的前杂志专栏作家。这一报道进一步印证了这一清晰无误的模式。
该模式是：在最近几年里，特朗普领导的司法部已对那些在特朗普大多数重大法律纠纷中站在对立面的关键人物采取了调查行动。
在特朗普第二届政府任期的头16个月里，每一起相关案件中的涉案人员恰好都涉及值得调查的涉嫌刑事犯罪，这若说是巧合未免太过离奇。但我们如今确实正处于这样的局面。
此外，经仔细审查后会发现，针对这些特朗普对手的指控往往相当站不住脚。
对卡罗尔的调查，是围绕她在针对特朗普的两起民事诉讼中是否作伪证展开的。她的法律团队尚未对此置评。（特朗普已就性虐待案的判决向最高法院提起上诉，并承诺将就诽谤案提起同样的上诉。）CNN报道称，布兰奇已回避这起案件，因为他曾作为特朗普的私人律师参与卡罗尔案的上诉程序。
当然，卡罗尔并非首位在针对特朗普的重大民事诉讼中败诉后随即成为调查目标的人。
纽约州总检察长莉蒂夏·詹姆斯于去年遭到起诉，罪名是涉嫌抵押贷款欺诈，但相关指控相当薄弱。她曾在2024年赢得针对特朗普及其企业的重大民事欺诈判决。该起诉因检方程序问题被驳回后，司法部又两次尝试重新起诉詹姆斯，均以失败告终。随后，《纽约时报》今年1月报道称，司法部正在调查涉及詹姆斯的其他指控。
这一模式同样延伸到与特朗普相关的刑事调查中。
时任联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米和时任中央情报局局长詹姆斯·布伦南，都是特朗普首届任期初期困扰他的“通俄”调查早期阶段的关键人物。
科米去年因涉嫌伪证遭到起诉，随后因与詹姆斯案相同的检方程序问题被驳回。上个月，特朗普领导的司法部又就另一完全无关的事项对科米提起诉讼——一项所谓的威胁特朗普的指控，众多法律专家对此深表怀疑。
一项针对布伦南涉嫌向国会撒谎的调查也已酝酿许久。CNN记者埃文·佩雷斯和汉娜·拉比诺维茨本月报道称，检察官仍在努力满足白宫对刑事指控的诉求。
特朗普政府还对那些参与起诉他的关键人物展开调查，不过这一进程似乎更为缓慢。
前特别检察官杰克·史密斯曾成功获得对特朗普的两项联邦起诉，他因涉嫌违反《哈奇法案》（该法案限制政府官员的政治活动）成为特别顾问办公室调查的对象。（此处的两个“特别顾问”并非同一概念。）
《纽约时报》去年10月报道称，司法部正在审查佐治亚州富尔顿县地区检察官范妮·威利斯的相关情况。威利斯曾在2023年获得起诉特朗普及其盟友的许可，指控他们涉嫌干预2020年总统选举。
《纽约时报》称其审查了一份与威利斯前往巴哈马行程相关的传票。（她的办公室表示，此次行程是为了参加领导力培训，未使用政府资金。）
最后，本届政府还对那些参与国会对特朗普调查和弹劾程序的关键人物采取了调查行动。
在特朗普第一次弹劾案中，《华盛顿邮报》报道称，时任临时美国检察官埃德·马丁去年致信调查弗吉尼亚州民主党众议员尤金·温德曼及其兄弟亚历山大·温德曼的企业。两人都是针对特朗普及其2019年与乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基通话的指控的核心人物。亚历山大·温德曼目前正在佛罗里达州参选联邦参议员。
国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德上个月向司法部提交了刑事转介请求，要求调查时任情报委员会监察长迈克尔·阿特金森。阿特金森在分享引发该丑闻的举报人投诉方面发挥了重要作用。
司法部还调查了针对加利福尼亚州参议员亚当·希夫的抵押贷款欺诈指控。希夫曾负责众议院对特朗普的第一次弹劾程序，之后还担任众议院1月6日国会山骚乱事件调查委员会主席。
事实上，就目前而言，几乎很难找到一起涉及特朗普的法律案件，其司法部没有尝试调查涉案的主要当事人。
唯一似乎没有报道称对关键人物采取调查措施的重大案件，是特朗普2024年在曼哈顿因34项伪造商业记录罪名成立的当地刑事案。
当然，特朗普曾暗示，那些参与起诉他的检察官应该接受调查。
而且这看起来并非不可能。
今年3月在保守派政治行动会议（CPAC）上，布兰奇被问及针对威利斯、曼哈顿地区检察官阿尔文·布拉格以及“这一众角色”是否会有“正义”到来。
布兰奇并未否认这些人需要接受调查这一前提。事实上，他还进一步阐述了这一观点。
“嗯，是的。我的意思是，当然，你看，没错，”布兰奇在掌声中说道。“你看看美国各地的这些地区检察官——这些无疑是左翼将我们的司法系统纯粹武器化的最佳范例……”
当时担任副司法部长的布兰奇补充道：“司法部长和我本人，每周七天，每天都专注于伸张正义。正义将会到来。”
E. Jean Carroll, and the unmistakable pattern of Trump’s retribution campaign
2026-05-28T20:00:28.689Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/politics/e-jean-carroll-trump-retribution
- There’s a pattern of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department investigating key figures who were on the other side of major legal issues against him.
- The latest example is the Justice Department investigating E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who successfully sued Trump.
- And there could be more — acting Attorney General Todd Blanche hasn’t disputed the premise that people who prosecuted Trump need to be investigated.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has said it’s “absolutely not true” that the Justice Department is assisting President Donald Trump in a retribution campaign against his enemies.
But the evidence suggesting otherwise is getting more incontrovertible.
CNN’s scoop Wednesday that the Justice Department is investigating E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who successfully sued Trump for sexual abuse and defamation, builds out the unmistakable pattern.
That pattern: Trump’s DOJ has taken investigative steps against key figures who were on the other side of most of Trump’s major legal issues in recent years.
It would be a remarkable coincidence that people involved in each of these matters just happened to be involved in alleged criminal matters that were worth probing in the first 16 months of the second Trump administration. But that’s where we’re at.
In addition, the allegations against these Trump foes have often been shown to be rather thin when scrutinized.
The Carroll investigation involves examining whether she committed perjury as part of her two civil lawsuits against Trump. Her legal team has not yet commented. (Trump has appealed the sexual abuse case judgment to the Supreme Court and has pledged to do the same with the defamation case.) CNN reported that Blanche has been recused from this matter because he worked as one of Trump’s personal attorneys on the Carroll appeals.
Carroll isn’t the first participant in a major civil lawsuit against Trump to subsequently find herself targeted, of course.
New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted last year over rather thin claims of alleged mortgage fraud after winning a major civil fraud judgment against Trump and his business in 2024. When that indictment was thrown out over prosecutorial problems, the DOJ tried and failed to re-indict James two more times. Then, The New York Times reported in January that DOJ was investigating different allegations involving James.
The pattern extends to criminal investigations involving Trump, too.
Then-FBI Director James Comey and then-CIA Director James Brennan were both key figures in the early stages of the Russia investigation that dogged Trump in the beginning of his first term.
Comey was indicted for alleged perjury last year, before that was thrown out for the same reasons as the James indictment. Then Trump’s DOJ last month secured another indictment against Comey — but for a completely separate issue, a supposed threat against Trump that many legal experts are highly skeptical of.
An investigation of Brennan for allegedly lying to Congress has also been percolating for a long time, with CNN’s Evan Perez and Hannah Rabinowitz reporting this month that prosecutors are still struggling to satisfy the White House’s thirst for criminal charges.
Trump’s government has also probed key figures in indictments against him, though that seems to be a slower process.
Former special counsel Jack Smith, who secured Trump’s two federal indictments, has been the subject of an Office of Special Counsel investigation for allegedly violating the Hatch Act, which limits political activities of government officials. (The two “special counsels” are not the same thing.)
And the Times reported in October that DOJ was scrutinizing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who in 2023 secured an indictment of Trump and his allies for allegedly interfering in the 2020 election.
The Times said it had reviewed a subpoena related to a trip Willis took to the Bahamas. (Her office said the trip was for leadership training and no government funds were used.)
And finally, the administration has also taken investigative steps against key figures in congressional investigations against Trump and impeachments of him.
On his first impeachment, the Washington Post has reported that then-interim US Attorney Ed Martin last year sent letters probing a business led by Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia and his brother, Alexander Vindman, who’s running for US Senate in Florida — both central players in the allegations against Trump and his 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
And Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard last month sent the DOJ a criminal referral seeking a probe of then-intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson, who played an important role in sharing a whistleblower complaint that set off the scandal.
The Justice Department has also probed allegations of mortgage fraud against Sen. Adam Schiff of California, who managed the House’s first impeachment of Trump and later chaired the House January 6 committee.
Indeed, at this point it’s difficult to find a legal matter involving Trump where his DOJ hasn’t tried probing principal actors involved.
About the only major one where there are no reports of investigative steps being taken against key figures would seem to be Trump’s 2024 local criminal conviction in Manhattan on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Of course, Trump has suggested prosecutors involved in the cases against him should be investigated.
And it doesn’t sound like it’s off the table.
During an appearance in March at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Blanche was asked if “justice” was coming to Willis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and “this cast of characters.”
Blanche didn’t dispute the premise that these people needed to be probed. In fact, he leaned in on the idea.
“Well, yes. I mean, of course, like, look, yes,” Blanche said to applause. “Look, you have these district attorneys across the country – those are by far the best examples … of the pure weaponization by the left of our system of justice.”
Blanche, who was then deputy attorney general, added: “The attorney general and myself, every day, seven days a week, are focused on bringing justice. And it will come.”