The expected disclosures have already become a major political flashpoint for President Donald Trump, who shifted his earlier stance and endorsed the Justice Department’s plan to release the documents before Congress forces the issue. Trump’s decision instantly placed added scrutiny on the news outlets that covered the Epstein saga, with ABC emerging as a particularly controversial player.

The situation intensified after a confrontational exchange between Trump and ABC correspondent Mary Bruce. When Bruce pressed Trump on why he hadn’t ordered the release of the Epstein files himself, asking, “Why not just do it now?” Trump bristled at both the question and her tone. “It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude,” he shot back. “I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions.”

Trump escalated further, suggesting that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr should consider revoking ABC’s broadcast license altogether. “I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake. And it’s so wrong,” he said. His remarks immediately set off a political firestorm and put ABC’s editorial decisions under renewed scrutiny.

The White House capitalized on the moment, releasing a statement that labeled ABC “fake news” and catalogued what it described as years of slanted coverage against Trump. This revived longstanding conservative grievances about the network’s credibility and consistency on sensitive stories involving powerful political figures.

That criticism quickly reopened a painful chapter from 2019, when a leaked hot-mic video, published by Project Veritas, captured anchor Amy Robach accusing ABC of shelving her Epstein investigation. In the recording, Robach lamented that she had “the story for three years” and could not get it on the air despite confirming details involving Epstein, his victims, and “Clinton.” Her frustration was unmistakable: “I’m so pissed right now,” she said.

Robach went further, revealing she had secured an on-camera interview with Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who accused Epstein and implicated Prince Andrew. “We would not put it on the air,” Robach said, claiming the network dismissed the story at first because “no one knows who that is,” and later grew skittish after what she described as pressure from the royal palace. According to Robach, the palace “threatened us a million different ways” once they learned what ABC was preparing to air.

She also suggested the network feared losing access to coverage of the British Royal Family, implying that institutional concerns may have overridden journalistic duty. “Every day, I get more and more pissed because what we had was unreal,” she said in the leaked video. Many viewers saw this as evidence that ABC suppressed a major story to protect powerful figures.

After the footage became public in 2019, Robach acknowledged its authenticity but insisted she had simply been venting her frustrations to colleagues. ABC also attempted to contain the fallout, stating that her reporting “didn’t meet our standards to air” while insisting the network continued pursuing the Epstein case. “We have never stopped investigating the story,” a spokesperson said.

In later years, ABC did report on key developments, including breaking a 2023 story that Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew were expected to be named in unsealed Epstein-related documents. The network emphasized at the time that there was “no indication” those documents contained evidence of illegal conduct by Clinton, trying to position itself as responsibly covering the issue.

Still, the resurfaced Robach tape — combined with Trump’s heated confrontation with Bruce — has reinvigorated criticism from conservative commentators who accuse ABC of burying vital information. Benny Johnson summed up that sentiment on X, writing that ABC “deliberately buried” Giuffre’s interview and robbed Epstein’s victims of earlier justice. “Media accountability isn’t optional,” he argued. “ABC should have lost their broadcasting license years ago.”