Columnist E. Jean Carroll

Ceci Freed / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Fox News ignores “vindictive” DOJ probe into E. Jean Carroll

As the Justice Department opens a criminal inquiry into Carroll, Fox News has refused to discuss it while CNN and MS NOW have covered it on nearly every show

Written by Harrison Ray

Research contributions from Rob Savillo

Published

In the 19 hours following the breaking news, Fox News failed to cover the Justice Department's new criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who previously “won a $5 million civil judgment against Mr. Trump that he had sexually abused and defamed her.” Now, the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into whether Carroll committed perjury when she testified in a 2022 deposition that she had not received outside financial backing for her initial lawsuit. In contrast to Fox’s lack of coverage, all 12 CNN shows that aired since the news broke have covered the story, and 7 of 8 such MS NOW programs have covered it.

  • Fox News has yet to report on the DOJ’s criminal investigation, the latest probe in an ongoing “retribution campaign” by Trump’s Department of Justice, as of 2 p.m. on May 28. 

    On MS NOW, former DOJ fraud chief Andrew Weissmann discussed the investigation, stating, “That is, again, so emblematic of the cravenness of the Department of Justice. Here is somebody who, not just one, but two separate juries, have found that she was both defamed and sexually assaulted by the president of the United States.” He added, “It is so much against what America is supposed to stand for. On its face, it is vindictive.”

  • From the May 27, 2026, edition of MS NOW's The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell

  • Fox has repeatedly under-reported Carroll’s story, and its total silence on the DOJ's decision to criminally investigate her fits the network’s now-familiar pattern of editorial choices that protect the president from inconvenient stories.

  • Methodology

  • Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MS NOW for either of the terms “Jean” or “Carroll” within close proximity of any of the terms “Trump,” “president,” “Department of Justice,” “Justice Department,” “DOJ,” or “perjury” from May 27, 2026, when reporting exposed the Trump Department of Justice's criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, through 2 p.m. ET on May 28, 2026.

    We included segments, which we defined as instances when at least one speaker in a segment mentioned the DOJ's criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll at least once.