SNL Mocks Trump With Sketch Selling ‘Gold-Framed Epstein Files’ for $800 Amid White House Scandal Fallout
Saturday Night Live opened its latest episode with a sharp satire of the Trump administration’s attempts to deflect mounting pressure over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. In the cold open, James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump denied knowing Epstein — moments before trying to sell the so-called “Epstein files” for $800 as a “great stocking stuffer.”
“Jeffrey Epstein, I barely knew the guy,” SNL’s Trump insisted, jokingly citing “thousands of pictures” of them together as proof of their supposed distance. The sketch poked fun at shifting White House narratives, mocking how Trump’s team has gone from pledging full transparency to federal officials now saying further disclosures aren’t needed.
“If there were something incriminating about me in the files, why would I cover them up? I’m hiding almost nothing — just enough to make it extremely suspicious,” Johnson’s Trump quipped as reporters pressed him.
The parody escalated as the fictional president offered to sell the files, gold-framed, for $800 after facing questions about his reluctance to release information on the late financier and sex offender.
The sketch also targeted the administration’s contradictions, including Trump’s claims that he both expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago while also saying he “never knew” him. SNL’s Trump explained the discrepancy with the “Trump multiverse theory,” joking that different versions of Trump exist across alternate timelines.
Ashley Padilla appeared as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who defended Trump using comments from Ghislaine Maxwell — the convicted sex trafficker now seeking a commutation after an unusual transfer to a lower-security facility.
The cold open aired during a week of renewed political tension in Washington. House Democrats released previously unseen emails in which Epstein allegedly claimed Trump “knew about the girls” and referred to him as “the dog that hasn’t barked.” When questioned about the emails, the real Trump responded: “I know nothing about that.”
Meanwhile, bipartisan lawmakers are pushing for a vote to compel the release of more Epstein-related documents. The issue has created a rare rift within the Republican Party, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accusing Trump of making a “huge miscalculation” by resisting transparency. Trump fired back, calling Greene a “traitor” and threatening to support a primary challenger.
With political pressure rising and public scrutiny intensifying, SNL’s satire captured the growing unease in Washington — while using humor to spotlight the administration’s increasingly strained messaging on the Epstein scandal.
