The Elitist Media were desperate to find an offramp as the government shutdown drew to a close. And they did, pivoting back to an old favorite but with a new, salacious angle.
Setting the tone is ABC World News Tonight. Here is the introduction and opening to the network’s obligatory Epstein report, which led the newscast off:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
11/12/25
6:33 PM
DAVID MUIR: Good evening. We begin tonight here with several breaking stories. This vote to end the government shutdown and news involving Jeffrey Epstein. Tonight lawmakers in the House have released Jeffrey Epstein emails, including emails referencing Donald Trump. The documents obtained from the Epstein estate include at least three emails about Trump. What Epstein says in those emails. All of this comes as today, after weeks of delays, Speaker Mike Johnson swearing in the new member of Congress, a Democrat from Arizona. And just moments later, she was the final signature needed in a bipartisan effort to get a vote now on the release of the Epstein files. And late today, the effort at The White House to try to convince a Republican member of congress to change her mind on releasing the files. Mary Bruce leading us off at The White House tonight.
MARY BRUCE: Tonight in newly released emails, sex offender Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly discussing Donald Trump, shedding light on their long friendship, and seeming to suggest Trump had information he never shared. In a 2011 exchange with his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein writing the quote: “dog that hasn't barked” is Trump. Adding one of his victims spent hours with Trump at Epstein's home, but that Trump has never once been mentioned. Maxwell replying, “I have been thinking about that.” The emails obtained from the Epstein estate were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Tonight, House Republicans and The White House say the victim mentioned was Virginia Giuffre, who worked at Trump's spa at Mar-a-Lago. She had said she never saw Trump do anything inappropriate. She died by suicide earlier this year. Trump and Epstein were friends for more than a decade.
The purpose of the email drop was to attempt to implicate President Donald Trump in some manner of improper behavior. A key element to this strategy was that the victim’s name was redacted. But the whole thing was debunked fairly quickly when it became known that the redacted name was that of the late Virginia Giuffre, who asserted that she never witnessed Trump do any wrongdoing.
With the Mystery victim gone, what purpose was there to running this slop? And not just running slop but in the case of ABC and NBC, leading the newscast with it. With no more shutdown to pitch panic from, the Elitist Media gleefully jumped on to the next bandwagon.
With the discharge petition now having obtained 218 signatures, there will be a renewed battle for the release of the Epstein Files. We’ll be monitoring the Elitist Media very closely
Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective network newscasts on Wednesday, November 12th, 2025:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
11/12/25
6:33 PM
DAVID MUIR: Good evening. We begin tonight here with several breaking stories. This vote to end the government shutdown and news involving Jeffrey Epstein. Tonight lawmakers in the House have released Jeffrey Epstein emails, including emails referencing Donald Trump. The documents obtained from the Epstein estate include at least three emails about Trump. What Epstein says in those emails. All of this comes as today, after weeks of delays, Speaker Mike Johnson swearing in the new member of Congress, a Democrat from Arizona. And just moments later, she was the final signature needed in a bipartisan effort to get a vote now on the release of the Epstein files. And late today, the effort at The White House to try to convince a Republican member of Congress to change her mind on releasing the files. Mary Bruce leading us off at The White House tonight.
MARY BRUCE: Tonight in newly released emails, sex offender Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly discussing Donald Trump, shedding light on their long friendship, and seeming to suggest Trump had information he never shared. In a 2011 exchange with his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein writing the quote: “dog that hasn't barked” is Trump. Adding one of his victims spent hours with Trump at Epstein's home, but that Trump has never once been mentioned. Maxwell replying, “I have been thinking about that.” The emails obtained from the Epstein estate were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Tonight, House Republicans and The White House say the victim mentioned was Virginia Giuffre, who worked at Trump's spa at Mar-a-Lago. She had said she never saw Trump do anything inappropriate. She died by suicide earlier this year. Trump and Epstein were friends for more than a decade.
ATTORNEY: Have you socialized with him?
JEFFREY EPSTEIN: Yes, Sir.
ATTORNEY: Yes?
EPSTEIN: Yes, Sir.
ATTORNEY: Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?
EPSTEIN: Though I'd like to answer that question, at least today, I'm going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights, Sir.
BRUCE: Trump insists he broke off the friendship when he learned Epstein and Maxwell were luring away women and teenage girls who worked at Mar-a-Lago.
DONALD Trump: He stole people that work for me. I said, don't ever do that again. He did it again. And I threw him out of the place. Persona non grata. I threw him out. And that was it.
BRUCE: In a 2019 email to author Michael Wolffe, Epstein writing, “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. Of course, he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.” Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Sources say she’s angling for a pardon. And just a few weeks ago when Trump was asked about her, he didn't rule it out.
Trump: Who are we talking about?
REPORTER: Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump: I haven't heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I would have to take a look at it.
BRUCE: Tonight, Democrats say the new emails increase the pressure on the Justice Department to release the FBI's full Epstein files.
ROBERT GARCÍA: What I know today is that Donald Trump is the president. He campaigned on releasing all the Epstein files. Obsessed about it. His vice president obsessed about it. And now, The White House is involved in a massive coverup. And we want to know why they won’t release the files.
BRUCE: Today, I asked The White House.
In the interest of transparency, why not just go ahead, release the full files on Epstein, get this all over with?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: We have -- this administration has done more with respect to transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein than any administration ever.
BRUCE: A group of House lawmakers have been circulating a petition to force a full vote to demand the Justice Department release the files. They have been one name short, House Speaker Mike Johnson refusing to swear in Arizona congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who was elected 7 weeks ago. He blamed the government shutdown. But today with the House back in session, Grijalva finally sworn in. Minutes later, signing the petition.
ADELITA GRIJALVA: I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files. [ VIDEO SWIPE ] Justice cannot wait another day.
BRUCE: And David, in another twist, The White House is trying to pressure Republicans to switch their vote on that petition. Today summoning Congresswoman Lauren Boebert here to The White House to the Situation Room where the attorney general and the FBI director tried to convince her not to do it. But tonight, she’s still signed on to try and force the release of these files. David.
MUIR: All right. Mary Bruce at The White House. Mary, thank you.
CBS EVENING NEWS
11/12/2025
6:36 PM
JOHN DICKERSON: Now to the other big story here in Washington tonight, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released more Epstein files, and they mention President Trump. Weijia Jiang now on what they say about the president, and The White House response.
WEIJIA JIANG: In one of the emails, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein wrote to a journalist in 2019, “of course Trump knew about the girls”, and in 2011 to his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein wrote about President Trump, “Virginia spent hours at my House with him”, adding “and he has never once been mentioned, police chief, et cetera”. Virginia Giuffre, a survivor of Epstein abuse who died by suicide in April, once worked at Trump’s Florida resort. In July, Trump spoke about Epstein taking Giuffre from her job at the Mar-a-Lago spa.
DONALD TRUMP: He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.
JIANG: Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s but says he cut ties before Epstein was indicted for soliciting prostitution in 2006. The president insists he had no involvement or knowledge of Epstein's sex trafficking operation. During a 2016 deposition, Giuffre said, "I don't think Donald Trump participated in anything. I never saw or witnessed Donald Trump participate in those acts." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Democrats for cherry-picking three emails out of 20,000 documents released today by Congress.
Separate from why you believe the emails were made public, can you address their substance? Did the president ever spend hours at Jeffrey Epstein's House with a victim?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.
JIANG: Today, after weeks of delay, Democratic congresswoman Adelita Grijalva of Arizona was sworn into Congress and became the final signature needed to force a House vote on the Justice Department releasing additional Epstein files. This effort includes mostly Democrats and a few Republicans.
DICKERSON: Weijia Jiang at The White House. Thank you.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
11/12/25
TOM LLAMAS: And good evening, it is an issue that has haunted President Trump's second term, his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Today, 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein's estate were made public, including emails from Epstein that mentioned Donald Trump. It's shining a renewed light on the pair’s history. The House Oversight Committee obtained the documents using a subpoena. And this morning, House Democrats released three emails that mentioned the president and until now, have never been seen by the public. Here they are. In one allegedly sent to Ghislaine Maxwell in 2011, Epstein writes that Trump, quote, “spent hours at Epstein's House with an alleged victim”. In another, from 2019, Jeffrey Epstein allegedly wrote about Donald Trump saying quote, “of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop”. Though the specifics of what he's referring are unclear, Republicans responded with 20,000 pages of documents and accused Democrats of cherry picking. And The White House is pushing back tonight saying the emails prove absolutely nothing. There's a lot to cover here from legal to political implications, we will get to all of it but we begin tonight with Gabe Gutierrez at The White House.
GABE GUTIERREZ: Tonight, The White House is pushing back after House Democrats released emails from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, putting new scrutiny on President Trump's relationship with the late convicted sex offender.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.
GUTIERREZ: In 2011, four years before Trump announced his run for the presidency, Epstein emailed his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. “I want you to realize the dog that hasn't barked is Trump, (redacted name) spent hours at my House with him. He has never once been mentioned”. The White House says the redacted name is Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent accusers. Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, never accused Trump of wrongdoing, writing in her memoir, “Trump couldn't have been friendlier.”
LEAVITT: It is not a coincidence that the Democrats leaked these emails to the fake news this morning ahead of Republicans reopening the government. This is another distraction campaign.
GUTIERREZ: In another newly released email after Epstein was indicted, he wrote this about Trump in 2019. “Of course he knew about the girls, he asked Ghislaine to stop.” The president has said he broke with Epstein years before Epstein got into legal trouble and kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago when Epstein started taking club employees to work for him, including Giuffre.
DONALD TRUMP: He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us.
And now Republicans also releasing 20,000 pages of documents. In one email Epstein, after former Trump fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws, wrote: “I know how dirty Donald is”. Trump has never been accused of any wrongdoing linked to Epstein. The administration now facing growing bipartisan pressure with a new Democrat sworn in today becoming the critical 218th signature to force a House vote to release all of the DoJ’s Epstein files.
ADELITA GRIJALVA: I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files.(VIDEO SWIPE) Justice cannot wait another day.
LLAMAS: And Gabe joins us live from The White House. So Gabe, when is the earliest we can see Congress hold the vote on releasing the Epstein files?
GUTIERREZ: Well Tom, the earliest in the House would likely be the first week of December. If it passes it would then go to the Senate where it’s likely to fail. Still, the president has been ramping up pressure on Republicans. Top administration officials met today here in the Situation Room with GOP congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who had signed the petition.
LLAMAS: All right, Gabe. We thank you.
