The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago issued a clear statement on Thursday denying that it has launched any criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the writer who won two civil cases against former President Donald Trump.
"The Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office can confirm that it has not opened - and has never opened - a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll," the office said, quoting U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros.
The denial followed reporting based on an anonymous source who told reporters on Wednesday that the Justice Department had begun a probe, led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, into whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to two civil lawsuits she successfully pursued against Trump.
What the anonymous source said
The person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because the investigation was described as ongoing, told reporters the purported probe concerned testimony given in cases decided in 2023 and 2024 in which Carroll alleged she was sexually abused in a New York department store and that Trump had defamed her by calling her a liar.
The source said prosecutors were focused on a 2022 deposition in which Carroll stated she had received no outside funding for her suit. Her lawyers subsequently disclosed that Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder, had paid some of her legal bills.
The source cautioned that the opening of a probe does not necessarily mean charges will follow.
Legal rulings and background cited in reporting
Jurors reached verdicts in Carroll’s cases against Trump in stages. In May 2023 a jury concluded that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her, while finding he had not raped her. In January 2024 another jury found he had defamed her and awarded damages totaling $83.3 million.
An appeals court in 2024 weighed in on the funding question, concluding 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."
Department leadership and recusals
The reporting also noted that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has been recused from the department’s investigation into the matter because he had served as one of Trump’s personal attorneys on the Carroll appeals. The reporting added that Blanche moved quickly to act on demands from Trump after taking over from his predecessor.
The article said that since the prior year the Justice Department under Trump has pursued a range of investigations targeting the president’s opponents and in some instances has brought criminal charges.
Responses and unanswered items
Carroll’s lawyer, Robbie Kaplan, did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to the reporting. The office’s categorical denial leaves unanswered why the anonymous source described an investigation, and whether any preliminary review had been undertaken elsewhere within the department.
The situation remains fluid in public reporting: the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement disputes the account that an investigation led by that office was opened, while the anonymous source described an inquiry centered on the 2022 deposition and subsequent funding disclosures.
Summary
The Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office has publicly stated it has not opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, contradicting an anonymous-source report that the Justice Department had initiated a perjury probe over Carroll’s deposition statements about outside funding related to her lawsuits against Donald Trump. Key elements of the underlying litigation and appellate findings, and a recusal by the acting attorney general, remain part of the record cited in reporting.