Emily Jashinsky

Treasury Secretary Scott Besant taking on the White House press briefing, becoming the latest cabinet member to step in for Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt.

New reporting raises questions on whether U.S.

and Iranian officials are nearing a deal.

And Coast Guard crews are back in Bahamian water, renewing the search for missing American Lynette Hooker.

All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.

The DOJ opening a criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll, focusing on whether she committed perjury in her civil lawsuits against President Trump.

Carroll previously filing two lawsuits against President Trump.

In 2019, Carroll alleging in a New York Magazine excerpt from her memoir that Mr. Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room sometime around 1995 or 1996.

President Trump publicly denied the allegations, prompting Carroll to sue him for defamation.

That case was put on hold because of issues related to the fact that he was the sitting president.

Carroll later filing a second lawsuit, alleging both defamation and sexual assault after New York temporarily opened a legal window for older sexual assault claims.

That second case went to trial first, with the jury in May 2023 finding President Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not rape.

Mr. Trump ordered to pay Carroll $5 million.

Carroll's original defamation case later went to trial separately, with jurors only deciding damages after the earlier verdict had established liability, that jury awarding Carroll $83.3 million.

President Trump denies Carroll's allegations and is appealing both verdicts.

Now, Carol's own testimony reportedly under scrutiny.

According to CNN, prosecutors are focused on a 2022 deposition, when Carol said no one else was paying her legal fees.

Her lawyers disclosing that some of her legal expenses had been covered through a non-profit backed by LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman, a major Trump critic.

Mr. Trump's attorneys arguing at the time that the funding disclosure raised serious questions about Carol's credibility.

Carol's lawyers arguing the funding had no bearing on her claims, saying she had not met or spoken with anyone connected to the nonprofit.