Overview
- The Nov. 15 cold open staged a mock White House briefing where Karoline Leavitt, played by Ashley Padilla, deflected questions about newly released Epstein emails and declared the messages proved the president did nothing wrong.
- James Austin Johnson’s Trump told reporters he was “hiding almost nothing” and joked he would sell the Epstein files for $800 each, referencing the viral “blowing Bubba” line cited in the document trove.
- Coverage noted that Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee released roughly 20,000-plus Epstein-related emails this week, several of which mentioned President Trump.
- The episode revisited the controversy across the night, including Weekend Update riffs and a three-part MacGruber bit that wove the emails into its gag.
- Conservative users on social media criticized the sketch as offensive and called for legal action, while the White House has maintained the emails prove nothing and Trump has denied wrongdoing.