ABC Accuses Trump of 'Sexually Assaulting that 13-Year-Old,' Walk It Back

Nicholas Fondacaro
February 26th, 2026 4:23 PM

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ABC News was once again treading dangerously close to serious legal lability. During Thursday’s episode of The View, co-host Sunny Hostin spew allegations - without evidence - about President Trump "sexually assaulting that 13-year-old." A short time later, Hostin was made to reel in her definitive claims with a touch of skepticism by noting what she was referring to were “unverified allegations,” which were being pushed by Democrats and the liberal media.

The liberal ladies were discussing the Epstein files yet again after Democratic House member Robert Garcia (CA) claimed 50 pages were missing related to a salacious claim made against the President involving a 13-year-old girl.

In their discussion, Hostin spoke about the allegation as if it was fact:

HOSTIN: I want to know where those pages are.

JOY BEHAR: What was taken out?

HOSTIN: Well, we don't know what was taken out, but what we know is that Representative Garcia read about 50 -- 50 pages are left out. He did read an account of the President sexually assaulting that 13-year-old.

BEHAR: Trump. This president.

HOSTIN: Yes.

 

 

A short time later, co-host Joy Behar handed Hostin a card and teed her up to hedge her accusation by admitting the allegations were “unverified,” but she needed to get a dig in by reading them:

I want to be very careful here because these are allegations and President Trump has consistently – they're unverified allegations and President Trump has consistently denied all the allegations and any wrongdoing. BUT there was a presentation made by the FBI and the witness stated that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Trump, who subsequently forced her head down and punched her in the head in response to something that she did.

The reality of the situation was the fact the allegations were in the files because they were known to investigators for years and nothing came of them.

Just as we did when we found co-host Whoopi Goldberg in the files asking Epstein to borrow a jet, NewsBusters went searching for allegations. We found them and investigators didn’t seem to trust the source.

The accusation Hostin mentioned was part of a slideshow put together by the Child Exploitation & Human Trafficking Task Force as an over view of the Epstein sex crimes investigation through to his death. There were five different versions of the slideshow with various levels of redactions.

In one form, the allegation read: “[Redacted]** stated Epstein introduced her to Trump who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which is subsequently bite. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out."

 

 

Notice the “**” following the redacted name. Elsewhere on the same slide investigators included a key that explained that “**” meant the person had a “criminal history,” thus weren’t trustworthy.

In a different file, an email dated "Monday, July 12, 2021" says this about Trump: "Donald Trump was complicit in abusing me to extort money from my grandfather and my grandfather engaged in similar activities. This is probably the biggest reason I had trouble getting help."

Both of these allegations were in the files and in possession of President Biden’s Department of Justice during the height of the lawfare they were waging against Trump in their effort to keep him from the White House again. Which meant there’s nothing to them.

 

 

Meanwhile, Behar scoffed at the notion that Trump’s DOJ would find and release the supposedly 50 missing pages; claiming “They’re in his pocket.” An other criminal accusation against Trump.

Filling in for co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, who was out on maternity leave, CNBC anchor Sara Eisen noted that the accusation was made before the contentious 2020 election. She drew the ire of the rest of the table when she called out the Democrats for loving to bash Trump:

EISEN: We know Democrats like to bash president Trump. That's –

GOLDBERG (interrupting): No, no, it's not about bashing Trump. This is about – This is about – Listen, you got.

[Crosstalk]

BEHAR: This is about children.

GOLDBERG: You have people who are taking responsibility.

HOSTIN: This is about child sex crimes.

 

 

Sure it is.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
February 26, 2026
11:07:05 a.m. Eastern

(…)

SUNNY HOSTIN: I want to know where those pages are.

JOY BEHAR: What was taken out?

HOSTIN: Well, we don't know what was taken out, but what we know is that Representative Garcia read about 50 -- 50 pages are left out. He did read an account of the President sexually assaulting that 13-year-old.

BEHAR: Trump. This president.

HOSTIN: Yes.

(…)

11:08:34 a.m. Eastern

BEHAR: I want to clarify to make sure people understand what happened here. More than 50 pages are missing from the release contained notes from several interviews the FBI conducted with a woman as she pointed out who claimed she was abused by Trump in 1983 when she was 13. And these are -- explain what this is, the words.

HOSTIN: Well apparently in this document – and I want to be very careful here because these are allegations and President Trump has consistently – they're unverified allegations and President Trump has consistently denied all the allegations and any wrongdoing. BUT there was a presentation made by the FBI and the witness stated that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Trump, who subsequently forced her head down and punched her in the head in response to something that she did.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Right. So, what's really crazy to me is that, you know, thinking of him giving this State of the Union and not even acknowledging --

SARA HAINES: The survivors --

GOLDBERG i: -- That the survivors were there, not mentioning them, not mentioning that, you know, we are -- we are seeing American citizens being shot by their own government. He didn't mention any of that. He didn't mention their names either.

BEHAR: He wants it to go away.

GOLDBERG: I think he does.

[Crosstalk]

SARA EISEN: The only thing I would say is, though, the amount of disclosure we have had so far has been astonishing. You have to admit. It's been more than three million documents and why we talk about it day in and day out on this show and everywhere else and we want more of that. The President did sign the act from Congress that would disclose all this information. And the DOJ does say that they are on it and they will look for any pieces that were not included. So –

[Crosstalk]

BEHAR: They’re in his pocket.

EISEN: - before we jump to conclusions they are still unsubstantiated allegations that made in 2019, before the 2020 election and so let's see before, you know -- we know Democrats like to bash president Trump. That's –

GOLDBERG: No, no, it's not about bashing Trump. This is about – This is about – Listen, you got.

[Crosstalk]

BEHAR: This is about children.

GOLDBERG: You have people who are taking responsibility.

HOSITN: This is about child sex crimes.

EISEN: 100 percent disgusting crimes.

GOLDBERG: And so, he is at the tip of this iceberg and he is the only person who we really have not heard from except to say, no, it never happened.

EISEN: Let’s see what they produce. Let’s see it.

HAINES: Representative Massie and Mace are Republicans and they are also calling for this.

BEHAR: And by the way, the FBI interviewed this woman or this child, she was a child at the time, now she’s a woman four times.

HOSTIN: Four times.

BEHAR: They must have had something, something in there that provoked them to do it three more times.

GOLDBERG: Well, let's find out what's going on. Let’s see if we can get it.

HOSTIN: There should be four 302s filled out.

GOLDBERG: Yes.

BEHAR: Right.

GOLDBERG: We'll be back.

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