Prosecutor denies case against Trump rape accuser being pursued

Content warning: this article features graphic discussion of rape and sexual abuse. 

A US federal prosecutor has denied opening a case against a woman who claims Donald Trump raped her. But a source had told the legacy press that such a case is being pursued. It would be the latest of many sexual abuse scandals centering on the US president.

Writer E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of “raping her in the mid-1990s”. Trump and Carroll have already contested two cases heard in court.

Carrol is a former columnist for Elle Magazine. CBC reported:

The top federal prosecutor in Chicago denied on Thursday that his ‌office has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused U.S. President Donald Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s.

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the Justice Department had begun an investigation, led by ​the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, into whether Carroll committed ​perjury in testimony involving two civil lawsuits that she won against Trump.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said:

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.

Trump complications

An anonymous source previously told legacy media:

the probe involved testimony in Carroll’s successful cases, decided in 2023 and 2024, alleging Trump sexually abused her in a New York department store and defamed her by saying she was lying.

The new case, which federal lawyers deny is being developed, focuses on whether Carroll lied about her case being funded by a third party.

The anonymous source said:

the prosecutors’ move was based on a 2022 deposition statement by the former Elle magazine advice columnist that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit. Her lawyers later revealed ​that Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, had paid some of her legal bills.

A previous appeal found:

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.

CBC said:

A jury found ⁠in May 2023 that Trump had sexually assaulted 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 $83.3 million US in damages.

Trump denies raping/sexually assaulting Carroll. In August 2024 a federal judge found the claim that the current US president had raped Carroll to be “substantially true.” However, the legal issue is complicated by the verdict of a jury in a civil case regarding the alleged sexual assault. USA Today reported that:

Under New York criminal law, an assault constitutes “rape” only if it involves vaginal penetration by a penis. That was the definition the jury was instructed to use in the civil case.

As such, the jury found that Carroll did not prove that Trump raped her, but did prove that Trump sexually abused her.

Trump settling old scores through abuse of the law

Trump uses the US legal system to settle old scores, CBC said:

Since Trump returned to the presidency for a second time, Democrats have accused him of seeking retribution against those who he believes have wronged him.

Adding:

Some have also accused acting U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche and his predecessor Pam Bondi of enabling Trump in those quests, undermining the independence of the Justice Department.

Other targets included:

former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, although a judge dismissed the charges against James in late 2025.

And:

Investigations have also either been announced or uncovered by reporters concerning Sen. Adam Schiff, former CIA director John Brennan and first-term Trump administration members Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor.

The president was a long-time associate of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. One Epstein file linked Trump with a murder in December 2025:

The report additionally details an accusation from a woman who claimed Trump and Epstein raped her. The woman said she wouldn’t call the police as “they will kill me”.

The woman was later found with her head “blown off”. Reportedly, officers at the scene said ‘there was no way it was a suicide’, although a coroner would later deem it to be self-inflicted.

Trump denies any wrongdoing. His accusers are numerous. Reports suggest at least 25 women have accused him of different forms of sexual violence. Time will tell if this new probe into Carroll emerges and if more women put forward allegations in the current febrile climate of legal repression. The US president is under legal and political pressure on many fronts – not least the Iran war. The victims of alleged sexual violence have often had their stories overshadowed by the churn of world events.

Featured image via Getty/Roberto Schmidt

By Joe Glenton

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