Headline Roundup • May 29th, 2026
Media Pulls Back on Reports of DOJ Investigating E. Jean Carroll
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Media outlets revised reports that the Justice Department (DOJ) launched a criminal investigation into former Elle Magazine (Lean Left bias) columnist E. Jean Carroll, after a federal attorney refuted their accuracy.
Initial Reports: A CNN (Lean Left) exclusive said on Thursday that the DOJ launched a perjury investigation focusing directly on Carroll and her infamous civil lawsuits against the Trump administration. Outlets across the political spectrum, though predominantly on the left, picked up the story and mirrored reports – a bias of story choice. Notably, outlets on the right often framed Carroll negatively, with Daily Caller's (Right) headline stating, "The Woman Who Won Millions From Trump Is Reportedly Now Under Federal Investigation."
Revised Reports: US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros issued a statement on Thursday night asserting the DOJ "has not opened - and has never opened - a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll." The source of the initial information then reportedly clarified to say one of Carroll's court testimonies was looped into a separate investigation into LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman's nonprofit American Future Republic.
For Context: Carroll filed two successful sexual assault and defamation lawsuits against President Donald Trump in 2023 and 2024. Trump denied the sexual assault accusation and asked the Supreme Court to overturn both rulings, which awarded Carroll a total of $88 million.
RELATED: Jury Finds Donald Trump Sexually Abused, Defamed E. Jean Carroll | AllSides
Connection to Hoffman: Carroll said in a deposition that no outside funding supported her 2023 lawsuit; however, Trump's lawyers later found that Hoffman paid some of her legal expenses. The appeals court for the case ruled in Carroll's favor and said she "had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained."
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
The top federal prosecutor in Chicago vehemently denied reports Thursday that a probe into longtime advice columnist E. Jean Carroll had been launched.
The denial by US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros came after multiple outlets claimed the Justice Department was investigating whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony related to her two civil lawsuits against President Trump.
"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...
Adam Gray / Reuters
The top federal prosecutor in Chicago has denied media reports that his office opened an investigation into E Jean Carroll, the writer who accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her 30 years ago.
Andrew Boutros, the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, issued a statement saying his office "can confirm that it has not opened - and has never opened - a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll"...
Editor's note: After this report was published, one of the sources for the story provided updated information stating that writer E. Jean Carroll is not the target of a criminal investigation and that her testimony regarding the funding of her civil lawsuits against President Trump is being examined as part of a related investigation into a nonprofit run by Reid Hoffman that helped pay for some of her legal expenses.
A day after this report published, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Andrew Boutros, said in a...
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