When he returned to office last year, President Trump promised retribution against those he saw as having challenged or defied him. Since then, the Justice Department has laid charges against a slew of people, including current and former government officials, and opened investigations into others.
E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine writer who won two civil judgments against Mr. Trump, on Wednesday became the latest subject of a criminal investigation by the department, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
Here is an incomplete list of investigations and indictments the Justice Department has pursued against Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies.
E. Jean Carroll
Ms. Carroll, 82, was awarded $5 million in damages in 2023 by a jury that found Mr. Trump liable for sexually abusing her in the 1990s and more recently defaming her.
“I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back,” she said at the time of the verdict. “Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.”
A year later, Ms. Carroll won a $83.3 million civil judgment against him in another defamation case. A federal appeals court upheld the decision in September.
Mr. Trump has sought to overturn both judgments. In November, he asked the Supreme Court to review the 2023 decision, and this month he won a delay in payment for the separate defamation case until the nation’s highest court can consider an appeal.
Ms. Carroll’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Justice Department’s investigation.
James Comey
The Justice Department has repeatedly sought to indict James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director who was fired by Mr. Trump in 2017 as that agency was investigating Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign over possible ties to Russia.
Mr. Comey was first indicted in September last year by a federal grand jury in Virginia on one count of making a false statement and one count of obstructing a congressional proceeding in connection with his testimony before a Senate committee in September 2020. The indictment was dismissed in November by a federal judge who said that the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed by Mr. Trump.
In April, the Justice Department secured a second indictment against Mr. Comey over an image of seashells that he had posted on social media. The administration claimed that the message the shells were arranged to convey, “86 47,” constituted a threat to the president.”
A federal grand jury in North Carolina charged Mr. Comey with making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat across state lines. Mr. Comey said he was innocent and vowed to fight the charges.
Letitia James
The Justice Department in October secured an indictment against the New York attorney general, Letitia James, on charges of bank fraud and false statements in relation to a home loan. She had won a civil case against Mr. Trump in 2023 that accused him of fraudulently inflating the value of his assets.
The charges against Ms. James were dismissed in November by the same federal judge who found that the prosecutor had been unlawfully installed by Mr. Trump. Ms. James said in a statement at the time that charges had been baseless.
Federal Reserve officials
Mr. Trump has long sought to pressure the Federal Reserve into cutting interest rates, and sought to oust officials there who have defied him.
The Justice Department in January opened a criminal investigation into Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve at the time, over the renovation of the central bank’s headquarters and whether he had lied to Congress about its scope and budget.
In a video response released by the Fed, Mr. Powell accused the administration of using legal threats to coerce the central bank into complying with Mr. Trump’s demands to cut interest rates, which Mr. Powell had resisted.
The investigation was dropped in April, clearing the path for Kevin M. Warsh, Mr. Trump’s pick to succeed Mr. Powell, to be confirmed by the Senate.
As part of his pressure campaign, Mr. Trump has also sought to oust a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa D. Cook. In August, he said he would remove her from the board of governors, citing unsubstantiated allegations that she had committed mortgage fraud.
Ms. Cook and her lawyers have denied the allegations, and she has never been charged with a crime. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on Mr. Trump’s effort to remove her.
Fani Willis
Fani T. Willis, the Georgia district attorney who charged Mr. Trump with interference in the state during the 2020 presidential election, is being investigated by the Justice Department over a 2024 trip to the Bahamas.
Her travel records were subpoenaed by the department last year, though the scope of the inquiry is unclear. A spokesman for Ms. Willis said at the time that she had attended a leadership training seminar, and that government funds were not used to pay for the trip.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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