Kaitlan Collins slams White House ‘pressure campaign’ meeting to block release of Epstein files

WASHINGTON, DC: CNN’s Kaitlan Collins tore into President Donald Trump’s handling of the explosive Epstein files revelations, criticizing his administration’s effort to allegedly pressure lawmakers into blocking the release of more documents.

On 'The Source with Kaitlan Collins' on Wednesday night, November 12, Collins revealed that a meeting was held in the Situation Room, the same space once used to monitor the Osama bin Laden raid. 

There, Trump officials reportedly urged Rep Lauren Boebert to drop her support for releasing the Epstein materials.

Republicans reportedly put 'pressure' on Lauren Boebert

“With this return to DC, for the House, at least, comes new information about the story that the president has tried to shrug off, but just can’t,” Kaitlan Collins said. 

“Jeffrey Epstein mentioned Donald Trump by name, multiple times, in private emails, over the last 15 years,” she claimed.

The meeting, attended by Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, was reportedly described by Collins as part of a “pressure campaign” on Boebert that ultimately failed.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace also reportedly resisted pressure to withdraw her backing from the petition to release the files.

The controversy erupted after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a new batch of emails allegedly sent by Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell and author Michael Wolff.

In one 2011 email, Epstein allegedly wrote to his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, “I want you to realize that the dog that hasn’t barked is Trump… He has never once been mentioned.” Maxwell replied, “I have been thinking about that…”

Democrats redacted the name of a woman referenced in the message, describing her as one of the victims. Republicans, however, identified her as Virginia Giuffre, a central figure in the scandal who died earlier this year.

White House defends meeting as a show of 'transparency'

Pressed by reporters about the use of the Situation Room for what appeared to be political damage control, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the meeting as a sign of openness.

“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?” Leavitt said. “That’s a defining factor of transparency.”

Collins, however, mocked the explanation, pointing out the extraordinary setting for such a meeting.

“The national security nerve center... 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,” she said.

Despite the White House’s efforts, the push to suppress the Epstein files allegedly backfired. A discharge petition to force a vote on their release secured the required 218th signature, with the newly sworn-in Rep Adelita Grijalva.

Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that the House will hold a vote next week on whether to make the Department of Justice’s Epstein records public.