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President Donald Trump's new gambit to try to use new testimony from convicted Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell to distract or placate his base from the exploding controversy over why he hasn't released the entirety of the files on the Epstein case is unlikely to work, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Friday evening.

"Maggie, just first on what we heard from Trump when he was landing in Scotland tonight," said Collins. "Is it clear why he is now saying he wasn't briefed on his name being in the files after no one denied that when it was reported?"

Podcaster Joe Rogan is fed up with President Donald Trump's administration, bashing them over their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Rogan, who officially endorsed Trump in the 2024 election after an interview with Elon Musk, slammed the president Friday on his show "The Joe Rogan Experience," noting it's been "madness" and "chaos."

President Donald Trump denied considering a pardon for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, telling reporters he "hasn't thought about it" while acknowledging he has the power to do so. But CNN anchor Erin Burnett fired back Friday evening on her show, highlighting a montage of Trump’s past comments echoing similar pardon sentiments — for people whom he later granted clemency.

Trump told reporters earlier in the day he hadn't considered pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, who's serving a 20-year sentence in connection with Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.

Conservative attorney George Conway joined CNN on Friday afternoon to express astonishment at the latest "lie" from President Donald Trump.

Conway, a frequent critic of Trump, joined "The Lead" with CNN anchor Jake Tapper to discuss Trump's press conference in which the president insisted the Justice Department never briefed him that his name was included multiple times in its sealed Jeffrey Epstein files.

A legal expert told CNN viewers on Friday afternoon there are "definitely some worrisome similarities" between the cases of Bill Cosby and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Elie Honig joined "The Lead" with anchor Jake Tapper to discuss the latest in the Jeffrey Epstein controversy that has embroiled President Donald Trump. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking. She just completed a rare series of interviews with U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in which she answered questions, including inquiries about roughly 100 people.

A right-wing media host's stunning defense of Ghislaine Maxwell as possibly a "victim" in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case earned fierce derision from CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday afternoon.

Tapper used his opening monologue on his show, "The Lead," to deliver a searing takedown of Newsmax host Greg Kelly. Kelly questioned the legitimacy of Maxwell's legal proceedings and suggested there may have been a "rush to judgment" regarding her conviction.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met for a second day with Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and a long-time prosecutor and former general counsel at the FBI is warning it could all "blow up in their face."

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace noted on her Friday show that she can't understand why Blanche would ignore the career prosecutors who have been steeped in the case for years and are aware of the details.

President Donald Trump got short with reporters while arriving in Scotland, when he was questioned about the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein files controversy, and demanded they talk about anything else.

"Mr. President, were you briefed on your name appearing in the files ever?" asked one reporter.

President Donald Trump says he is considering issuing rebate checks to consumers from the tariffs the federal government has collected. Rebates are a partial refund for the overpayment of taxes or if there is a surplus.

Trump made his remarks on Friday before heading to Scotland for a five-day trip to visit his golf courses. Both Trump and his administration have insisted that consumers do not pay the tariffs, but importers and retailers often end up passing most or all of the additional costs onto the end purchaser in the form of higher prices. Peter Navarro, Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, has gone as far as to claim that tariffs are tax cuts.

Economist and public policy professor Justin Wolfers explained that President Donald Trump had one job when he toured the Federal Reserve. And he bungled it.

Speaking to MSNBC on Friday, the University of Michigan professor confessed, "One of the reasons I went to Harvard to study for a Ph.D is so I could answer the question, how many buildings does the Federal Reserve have? And yes, there are three of them."

Former CBS News anchor Connie Chung slammed a controversial merger between Paramount, CBS News’ parent company, and Skydance on Friday as an attack on journalism, while also throwing shots at executives who helped facilitate the merger.

“I fear the end of CBS as I knew it,” Chung said, speaking to CNN’s Brianna Keilar.

On his way out of the U.S. to visit Scotland, Donald Trump told reporters that he had no relationship with convicted child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.

As the Epstein files controversy consumes both the White House and the Department of Justice, the president is trying to leave it all behind as he heads to Scotland to with with the British prime minister and tour his own two golf resorts.