Overview
- SNL’s Nov. 15 cold open portrayed press secretary Karoline Leavitt dodging questions on the newly released Epstein emails before James Austin Johnson’s Trump took the podium.
- Johnson’s Trump joked he would release “all of the Epstein files” by selling framed printouts for $800 each, lampooning the administration’s posture.
- The cold open referenced a widely circulated line from the emails—“Does Putin have the photo of Trump blowing Bubba?”—as part of the satire.
- The episode returned to the topic across multiple segments, including Weekend Update and a MacGruber sketch, making the emails a throughline of the night.
- Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee released thousands of Epstein documents that included mentions of the president, the White House has dismissed the material as a “hoax,” and the House is expected to vote next week on releasing more files.