President Donald Trump clashed with ABC News on Tuesday after the network’s chief White House correspondent pressed him on the Jeffrey Epstein files – and it quickly revived ABC News’ own 2019 Epstein scandal.
ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce asked Trump why he was waiting for Congress to act instead of releasing the files himself.
“Why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?” Bruce asked.
“It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude,” Trump responded. “I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions.”
The White House later declared ABC News “fake news” and listed the network’s various controversies, including their own 2019 scandal with Jeffrey Epstein’s files.
That year, conservative website Project Veritas released footage of then-ABC anchor Amy Robach complaining on a hot microphone that the network refused to air her interview with Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
“I’ve had the story for three years… we would not put it on the air,” Robach said in the footage, referring to reporting from 2016.
“It was unbelievable what we had [on Bill Clinton], we had everything,” Robach said. “I tried for three years to get it on to no avail. And now it’s all coming out, and it’s like these new revelations and I freaking had all of it. I’m so pissed right now.”
Robach told colleagues in the video that she had secured an interview with Giuffre, who directly implicated Prince Andrew.
“I’ve had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air,” Robach said. “First of all, I was told ‘Who’s Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is. This is a stupid story.’ Then, the Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interview Kate and Will that we — that also quashed the story.”
“Like every day, I get more and more pissed ’cause I’m just like, ‘Oh my God… what we had was unreal.’ Other women backing it up… Brad Edwards, the attorney [for Epstein’s victims], three years ago said something like there will come a day, but we will realize Jeffrey Epstein was the most prolific pedophile this country has ever known. I had it all three years ago,” Robach said in the hot mic footage.
ABC News defended its editorial process and said the reporting on Epstein did not meet standards to air.
“Not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we have never stopped investigating the story. Ever since, we’ve had a team on this investigation and substantial resources dedicated to it,” an ABC News spokesperson said.
Conservative YouTube personality Benny Johnson posted the Robach video Wednesday following Trump’s exchange with Bruce.
“In 2019, ABC News admitted to deliberately burying a key interview with Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts for three years that would have completely exposed and reshaped the Epstein conversation,” Johnson wrote. “If ABC had aired it, the victims would have justice and the American people would have answers. Media accountability isn’t optional. ABC should have lost their broadcasting license years ago.”
In 2019, ABC News admitted to deliberately burying a key interview with Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts for three years that would have completely exposed and reshaped the Epstein conversation.
The interview exposed damning evidence against Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and… pic.twitter.com/H4UbvEB1bj
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 18, 2025
Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act Wednesday evening, just hours after the House voted 421-1 to pass the legislation and the Senate approved the bill by unanimous consent.
Robach left ABC News in 2023 following an exposed extramarital affair with her co-host TJ Holmes. Both were dismissed by the network.