Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews appeared on CNN News Central on Tuesday afternoon to hawk his latest book worshiping the Kennedys, but the appearance turned into an embarrassing outing as two of his broad proclamations about contemporary politics turned out to be wildly false. Between claiming the Senate was going to stymie the release of the Epstein files and suggesting the Washington Post never criticized the Saudi crown price visiting the White House, Matthews’ assertions were blown up in his face by CNN journalists.
On the congressional momentum to release the Epstein files, Matthews bloviated about how “This presidency is as close to a monarchy as we've had in 250 years” and condemned how “these people [Republicans] are obeying him” and voting to release the files. Further, he predicted that “the Senate is going to do what it can to logjam this whole effort to get the truth out.”
He added that his predicted Senate opposition would be part of an effort by President Trump at “hiding something. I don't know if its illegality or his pal of his; who knows what it is.” That claim spurred CNN co-host Boris Sanchez to interject and note: “To be clear, the President has not been directly accused of any wrongdoing by Virginia Giuffre or other Epstein survivors.”
Apparently, the Senate doing everything they could to “logjam this whole effort” would only be for a handful of hours. Less than 10 minutes and a commercial break later, CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju was live on the steps to the Capitol with breaking news:
This is huge news. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, indicating that this bill just passed the United States House by a 427 to 1 vote, now could pass the Senate as soon as tonight.
In fact, that is what he just told reporters just moments ago. He said that it could move fairly quickly in the United States Senate, and that there would not be any changes because of the fact that it was approved by such a large margin.
Elsewhere in his comments, Matthews lashed out at The Washington Post with wild claims that the paper didn’t offer any criticism or coverage of Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman visiting the White House despite allegedly ordering the murder of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Matthews ridiculously added that the paper’s alleged silence was because owner Jeff Bezos was supposedly a Republican, which he wasn’t:
Excuse me, the guy murdered somebody, a Washington Post reporter. And the Washington Post never mentioned today any problem with that. They never editorialized against it. 'The murderer of our reporter is meeting in the White House today, but we're not going to mention it today because it's owned by a Republican Trump guy.’
Later in the show, Sanchez called out Matthews by name as he gave Post columnist Jason Rezaian “the opportunity to correct the record” muddied by Matthew’s false claims:
SANCHEZ: But, Jason, I actually wanted to give you the opportunity to correct the record on something that a previous guest said, Chris Matthews, when he was talking about the Washington Post that the paper didn't address the murder of Khashoggi today, with this visit of MBS to the White House.
REZAIAN: We actually addressed it beginning yesterday when I wrote a column about the visit in advance of this. Obviously, this is something that I've been aware of for several weeks that the crown prince was coming.
“But for the past seven-plus years that the Washington Post has been not only covering closely, but trying to get accountability around,” he added. “This is something that I take very personally. So, thank you for the opportunity to clear the record.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN News Central
November 18, 2025
3:16:14 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I think the idea – And the idea of MBS. Excuse me, the guy murdered somebody, a Washington Post reporter. And the Washington Post never mentioned today any problem with that. They never editorialized against it. 'The murderer of our reporter is meeting in the White House today, but we're not going to mention it today because it's owned by a Republican Trump guy.’
BORIS SANCHEZ: What did you make –
MATTHEWS: The idea that you let a murderer into the White House? Then you say there was some controversy about him. What? You don't say controversy about a murderer?
(…)
3:17:15 p.m. Eastern
MATTHEWS: What did – Michael Johnson’s never been accused of being insubordinate. He's an obedient servant. This presidency is as close to a monarchy as we've had in 250 years. And now we're coming around to our Independence Day.
I think it's awful that these people are obeying him. I don't – The Senate is going to do what it can to logjam this whole effort to get the truth out.
And I think politicians – I don't know what Trump is hiding. He's hiding something. I don't know if its illegality or his pal of his; who knows what it is. I think the press shouldn't make the mistake it did during the Russian investigation last time around of assuming they know the bottom line. We don't know the bottom line.
SANCHEZ: To be clear, the President has not been directly accused of any wrongdoing by Virginia Giuffre or other Epstein survivors.
(…)
3:25:24 p.m. Eastern
MANU RAJU: Yeah. This is huge news. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, indicating that this bill just passed the United States House by a 427 to 1 vote, now could pass the Senate as soon as tonight.
In fact, that is what he just told reporters just moments ago. He said that it could move fairly quickly in the United States Senate, and that there would not be any changes because of the fact that it was approved by such a large margin.
And remember, the Speaker of the House wanted changes to this bill. He resisted a vote in the House to begin with. The White House also resisted a vote for many months here. This president ultimately coming to the side of where his party was going to support this bill, and say that it should pass the United States House. And now, for the first time, we are getting a clear indication from John Thune himself that they indeed will try to quickly pass this bill.
So, here are some of the mechanics in order to pass this bill tonight, he needs to have all 100 senators on board and essentially greenlight this process from advancing one. One senator, Republican or Democrat, if they were to object, he or she could go to the floor and say, ‘I object.’ And this bill would not pass. It seems unlikely that would happen, given the way the momentum has totally shifted here on this issue.
(…)
3:35:23 p.m. Eastern
SANCHEZ: But, Jason, I actually wanted to give you the opportunity to correct the record on something that a previous guest said, Chris Matthews, when he was talking about the Washington Post that the paper didn't address the murder of Khashoggi today, with this visit of MBS to the White House.
JASON REZAIAN: We actually addressed it beginning yesterday when I wrote a column about the visit in advance of this. Obviously, this is something that I've been aware of for several weeks that the crown prince was coming. But for the past seven-plus years that the Washington Post has been not only covering closely, but trying to get accountability around. Josh and I worked very closely in the same section with Jamal Khashoggi. This is something that I take very personally. So, thank you for the opportunity to clear the record.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
(…)
