CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Calls Out Trump and GOP Over Jeffrey Epstein Amid Bombshell Un-Princing of Andrew
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins name-checked President Donald Trump and Republicans as she reported on the bombshell stripping of former Prince Andrew over the Jeffrey Epstein-related revelations in the late Virginia Giuffre’s new book.
Days after the publication of Giuffre’s posthumous book, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, the United Kingdom’s King Charles III announced that “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor” and evicted him from his royal digs.
On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, the anchor opened her show with a rundown of the news that included callouts of Trump for his association with Epstein and of his and the Republicans’ efforts to “block” the release of the Epstein files:
KAITLAN COLLINS: Today, an ordinary American girl from an ordinary American family, brought down a British prince with her truth and extraordinary courage. Those were the words of the family of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
That was in reaction to the shocking news today that Prince Andrew is being stripped of his royal title. Now, instead of Prince Andrew, he will simply be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. In addition to losing his other most prominent title, the Duke of York, earlier this month, Andrew is also being evicted from the sprawling mansion, where he has long lived on the royal dime. All of it encapsulating a major fall from grace because of his ties to Epstein.
Tragically, Virginia Giuffre didn’t live to see this day. She died by suicide, earlier this year. But her pursuit of justice has lived on.
And her family will join me on what this moment means for them, soon.
In her just released memoir, Virginia Giuffre details the claims that she made that Andrew sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.
He long denied those claims, and offered this defense in 2019, in a disastrous interview with the BBC. And what you’re about to hear from him is in response to a question about Giuffre’s claims, that they danced at a nightclub and that he was, quote, Sweating all over me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MOUNTBATTEN WINDSOR, FORMER DUKE OF YORK: There’s a slight problem with — with — with the sweating, because I have a peculiar medical condition, which is that I don’t sweat, or I didn’t sweat at the time, and that was — was it — yes, I didn’t sweat at the time because I had suffered what I would describe as an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War when I was shot at, and I simply — it was — it was — it was almost impossible for me to sweat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: You can see why it was disastrous.
Years after that interview, the public frustration, though, over Jeffrey Epstein, and a lack of accountability has not gone away. It was actually on full display, just a few weeks ago, when I was in the United Kingdom for President Trump’s state visit. This is what protesters were projecting on to the side of Windsor Castle, images of Trump and Epstein together.
The King himself, just heckled over this last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go away (inaudible). Shut up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: While Andrew, as he’s now known, faces his comeuppance, not a single powerful man in Epstein’s once-wide circle of friends has faced justice, here in the United States.
In the House of Representatives, a bipartisan move to force a vote on the release of the U.S. government’s files on Epstein has been blocked for more than a month, with Speaker Johnson keeping the place shut down.
President Trump, whose own friendship with Epstein reemerged after his administration’s failure to produce the Epstein bombshells they promised, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the allegations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No, I don’t know Prince Andrew. But it’s a — it’s a tough story. It’s a very tough story. I don’t know him. No.
I don’t know the situation with Prince Andrew. Just don’t know. Not aware of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
