SNL Mocks Donald Trump Over Newly Released Jeffrey Epstein Photos

Saturday Night Live took aim at Donald Trump just one day after newly released photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate showed the president among several high-profile figures.

The Saturday, Dec. 13, episode opened with a Cold Open set on Air Force One, where James Austin Johnson’s version of Trump held a mock press conference. Early in the sketch, Johnson’s Trump joked that he had taken “both an Ambien and an Adderall,” framing the scene as a chaotic battle between sleepiness and overstimulation.

That premise quickly pivoted to the week’s headlines. When asked to comment on Trump appearing in the newly shared Epstein materials — along with his recent attacks on female journalists and renewed chatter about his health — Johnson’s Trump tried to dismiss the controversy as political theater.

He waved off a question about the “latest batch of Epstein photos released by House Democrats,” insisting they were a “fake-news Democrat hoax.” But when the reporter followed up with a more absurd detail — a picture involving a bowl of condoms with Trump’s face on them and text claiming, “I’m huge” — the sketch’s Trump immediately softened, visibly pleased by the “huge” line. As White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (played by Ashley Padilla) attempted to intervene, Johnson’s Trump abruptly reversed course.

“They’re 100% legit. I love those files,” he said, adding that he liked the bowl.

The Cold Open also turned its focus to Trump’s hand, which has appeared bruised or bandaged — sometimes seemingly covered with makeup — in recent months. In the sketch, Johnson’s Trump described an over-the-top nighttime routine: putting on a bandage, covering it with makeup, then layering more bandages and more makeup. He called it “medical lasagna,” before deadpanning that everyone should be “very worried” because he was “very ill.”

The Air Force One setting also nodded to the president’s headline-making “quiet, piggy” remark aboard the plane in November, and the sketch continued to spotlight his pattern of insults toward female reporters.

After Johnson’s Trump veered into comments about Leavitt, he shifted to target CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins, portrayed by Chloe Fineman. In the sketch, Johnson’s Trump called out to Collins with a fresh insult, prompting Fineman’s Collins to respond that her name was Kaitlan Collins — and that it was “one of the nicer things” he’d called her.

In real life, Trump was among multiple prominent men who appeared in two batches of photos from Epstein’s estate that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee shared on Friday, Dec. 12. Others mentioned in connection with the photo batches included Bill Clinton, Woody Allen, Bill Gates and Steve Bannon.

One of the images shows Trump posing with at least six women whose faces were covered by the committee for privacy reasons. It remains unclear whether the women were victims of Epstein, or whether their identities were withheld for other reasons.

After the photos were released, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson criticized House Democrats for “selectively releasing cherry-picked photos with random redactions” and accused them of trying to create “a false narrative.”

House Democrats have said they plan to release additional photographs as they continue reviewing the thousands of files they received.