The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has denied reports of his office opening a new criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who once accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault.Media reports surfaced Wednesday evening that the DOJ was investigating E. Jean Carroll, with CNN reporting the investigation was about her possibly committing perjury during a 2022 deposition. CBS News reported the investigation was coming from Boutros’s office.The U.S. attorney’s office issued a statement on Thursday that refuted that Carroll was the subject of an investigation.
“In light of wide-spread reporting and intense media and public interest into the E. Jean Carroll matter in New York, 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,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said. “Any claim to the contrary is categorically false.”
Instead of Carroll herself, the DOJ is examining who paid the legal bills in her civil lawsuits against Trump as part of an investigation into a Chicago-based nonprofit run by Reid Hoffman that paid for some of her legal expenses, according to multiple reports. In Carroll’s 2022 testimony, which was part of her civil lawsuit against Trump, she said she was not receiving outside funding for her legal expenses.
