CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Roasts Trump Over ‘Pressure Campaign’ to Block Vote Amid Bombshell Epstein Reveal

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins roasted President Donald Trump over the location of a damage control meeting on the Epstein Files that included leaning on a congresswoman to drop her support for the release of more information.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee dropped a bomb on Wednesday morning with the release of emails that Jeffrey Epstein sent to accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and author Michael Wolff that directly referenced Trump.

Republicans responded with a dump of tens of thousands more documents and emails, many with explosive revelations. As the media attention grew, Trump officials convened a meeting at the White House with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to convince her to abandon efforts to release more Epstein documents.

On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, the anchor opened her show with a thorough reading of the damning revelations, and took a shot at Trump’s choice to hold the Boebert meeting in the Situation Room, which she noted was “where officials once monitored the bin Laden raid”:

KAITLAN COLLINS: And with this return to D.C., for the House, at least, comes new information about the story that the President has tried to shrug off, but just can’t. Jeffrey Epstein mentioned Donald Trump by name, multiple times, in private emails, over the last 15 years.

Since we broke that news here, early this morning, the White House has been in damage-control mode, including a top-level meeting that happened inside the Situation Room. Yes, the national security nerve center, where officials once monitored the bin Laden raid, was used today as part of a pressure campaign to block the release of the Epstein files in the possession of the Department of Justice.

CNN’s cameras spotted the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, actually leaving the White House, after that meeting between top officials, that included her, and the FBI director, and Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert. It was the culmination of an ultimately unsuccessful effort to get Boebert and Congresswoman Nancy Mace, to change their votes, when it came to a discharge petition, here on Capitol Hill, to release the files that the DOJ has on Jeffrey Epstein.

The press secretary, described it, though, as a show of transparency, on their part.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Doesn’t it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please? Doesn’t that show our level of transparency? Doesn’t that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns? That is the — that’s a defining factor of transparency. Having discussions — having discussions with members of Congress about various issues.

And I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The White House did confirm CNN’s reporting that that meeting was happening inside the Situation Room there.

And that meeting happened today, just a couple of hours, after we got new insight into the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

It includes an email, that was turned over by Jeffrey Epstein’s private estate to Congress, including one from April 2011, where Epstein wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell, this: I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. Redacted spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned. Police chief, etc. I’m 75 percent there.

Ghislaine Maxwell responded, I have been thinking about that. Dot. Dot. Dot. Now, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee redacted the victim’s name there. They said she was a victim of Jeffrey Epstein. That’s why her name was not put out.

Republicans though, identified her as Virginia Giuffre. She is one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accusers, who died by suicide in April, and wrote in her book about how her father worked as a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago, and when she was introduced to Donald Trump and described him as friendly.

In another email, this time when Trump was in office in 2019, in his first term, Jeffrey Epstein emailed the author, Michael Wolff, about Donald Trump, saying that he had asked Epstein to resign his membership at Mar-a-Lago.

Epstein wrote then and said, Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever.. of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.

That appears to be a reference to Maxwell recruiting employees at Mar- a-Lago, which the President has said he found out about and put a stop to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He took people that worked for me and I told him, don’t do it anymore. And he did it and I said, ‘Stay the hell out of here.’

REPORTER: Mr. President, did one of those stolen, you know, persons, does that include Virginia Giuffre?

TRUMP: I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yes. He, he stole her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: In another email that was released today, Epstein wrote about a young woman that he claimed he and Donald Trump both dated in the 90s, with Epstein writing about his, quote, 20 year old girlfriend in 1993, and that Epstein, quote, Gave her to Donald.

Trump’s association with Epstein has been long-known in public, and he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing when it comes to the late sex trafficker.

But the President and his aides have been waging an intense pressure campaign that ultimately backfired, here on Capitol Hill tonight, where that petition to force a vote on the release of the Epstein files, now has all of the votes that it needs. The 218th vote came, courtesy of the newest member of the House, Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who was sworn in today, 50 days after winning her election.

Speaker Mike Johnson said tonight that that bill will get its vote, here on Capitol Hill, next week.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.