The former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll has been battling President Donald Trump in court for nearly seven years over her allegation that he sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a fancy Manhattan department store in 1996. One jury found Trump liable for attacking her and a second awarded her tens of millions of dollars in damages for Trump's public attacks on her credibility. Now, numerous news organizations have reported that Trump’s Justice Department, led by the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago, has opened an investigation into whether Carroll lied under oath. The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has denied those reports, which cited anonymous sources.

The top federal prosecutor in Chicago denies that his office has opened an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist who said Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York department store 30 years ago. The Associated Press and other news organizations, citing anonymous sources, reported that the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago has opened an investigation into Carroll examining possible perjury allegations. But Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, denied that. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, later clarified that the actual focus was on a nonprofit that had helped fund Carroll's case.