President Donald Trump fired back at ABC News White House correspondent Mary Bruce on Tuesday over a question about Jeffrey Epstein as he floated whether the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) should revoke her network’s license.
During an Oval Office meeting with the Saudi crown prince, Bruce asked why Trump has not decided to simply direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release the files as he has the power to do, leading Trump to criticize her tone and questioned whether the FCC should revoke ABC News’ broadcasting license. The question came as the House of Representatives planned to vote on whether to release the Epstein files on Tuesday.
“It’s not the question that I mind, it’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions,” Trump said. “You start off with a man who’s highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question. And you could even ask that same exact question nicely. You’re all psyched up. Somebody psyched you over at ABC. You’re going to psych it. You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.”
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Trump further said that he has had no involvement with Epstein since he threw him out of Mar-a-Lago in the early 2000s. He suggested that former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers were closely associated with Epstein.
“As far as the Epstein files is, I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” Trump continued. “I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert. But I guess I turned out to be right. But you know who does have? Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, who ran Harvard, was with him every single night, every single weekend. They lived together. They went to his island many times. I never did … You just keep going on the Epstein files.”
“And what the Epstein is, is a Democrat hoax to try and get me not to be able to talk about the 21 trillion dollars that I talked about today. It’s a hoax,” Trump said.
The president accused ABC News of being “perpetrators” of the Democrats’ alleged “hoax” about Epstein. Trump told Bruce, “And ABC is your company. Your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said on “The Benny Johnson Show” in September that ABC could face potential consequences if it had failed to discipline late night host Jimmy Kimmel over his false statements about the assassin of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Kimmel’s three-day suspension from his show caused an uproar among Democrats, who accused Carr of having Kimmel removed for political purposes.
House Democrats released documents on Wednesday containing emails from Epstein, who alleged that Trump knew about his criminal activity and sat in his house with one of the victims. The documents redacted the name of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who stated in 2011 that she never witnessed or heard about Trump committing any criminal wrongdoing.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump called on House Republicans to release the files because they have “nothing to hide.”
More of Epstein’s victims told NBC News in September that they never witnessed or heard about Trump doing anything illegal during his friendship with Epstein. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s business partner who is currently serving prison time, stated during a July 24 deposition that Trump was a “gentleman in all respects” and denied that she ever witnessed him act inappropriately.
Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado signed a petition to release the files. Trump called Greene a traitor on Sunday for not removing her name from the petition.
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