Chicago prosecutor denies opening investigation of E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of rape
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The probe involved testimony in author E. Jean Carroll’s successful cases against US President Donald Trump, decided in 2023 and 2024.
PHOTO: DAVE SANDERS/NYTIMES
WASHINGTON – The top federal prosecutor in Chicago denied on May 28 that his office has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused US President Donald Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters on May 27 that the Justice Department had begun an investigation, led by the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago, into whether Ms Carroll committed perjury in testimony involving two civil lawsuits that she won against Mr Trump.
“The Chicago US Attorney’s Office can confirm that it has not opened – and has never opened – a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll,” US Attorney Andrew Boutros said in a statement.
Ms Carroll’s lawyer, Ms Robbie Kaplan, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The source, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the probe involved testimony in Ms Carroll’s successful cases, decided in 2023 and 2024, alleging Mr Trump sexually abused her in a New York department store and defamed her by saying she was lying.
The launch of a probe may not necessarily result in charges being brought against Ms Carroll.
CNN first reported the investigation.
Since 2025, Mr Trump’s Justice Department has pursued a slew of investigations against the president’s antagonists and has brought criminal charges in some cases.
The source said the prosecutors’ move is based on a 2022 deposition statement by the former Elle magazine columnist that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit. Her lawyers later revealed that Mr Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, had paid some of her legal bills.
An appeals court, however, decided in 2024 that “Ms Carroll plausibly represented that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained in September 2020 when this question was first posed to her in 2022, and the additional discovery did not indicate otherwise”.
A jury found in May 2023 that Mr Trump had sexually assaulted Ms Carroll, and defamed her by lying, but did not rape her. Another jury in January 2024 found that he had defamed her and ordered him to pay US$83.3 million (S$106 million) in damages.
Mr Trump has denied all wrongdoing and is still in legal battles with Ms Carroll.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has moved quickly to carry out Mr Trump’s demands since taking over from his predecessor Pam Bondi, has been recused from the department’s investigation as he worked as one of Mr Trump’s personal attorneys on the Carroll appeals, the source added. REUTERS
