Amy Robach Had the Opportunity to Interview Virginia Giuffre in 2016, but ABC News Shut It Down

Because so much information about Jeffrey Epstein keeps getting released to the public in a rather haphazard manner, it can be difficult to hold onto a timeline of events. The first incident of sexual abuse was reported to New York City police in August 1996 by Maria Farmer. The FBI didn't investigate this until 2006.

A pattern of law enforcement and media failures soon followed, with the worst of it occurring in 2008 after Epstein pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18. Epstein was sentenced to 13 months in a county jail, which included a work release program. This also effectively shut down the FBI's probe into his criminal acts. In November 2025, footage of ABC News reporter Amy Robach discussing an Epstein-related gaffe on a hot mic surfaced. Here's what we know.

Footage of Robach from August 2019 was shared on the Fauxmoi subreddit. In the video, the reporter says she "had the story for three years" and had an interview with Virginia Roberts, who later changed her name to Virginia Giuffre. "We would not put it on the air," recalled Robach, who said no one knew who Epstein was at the time. She was told it was a "stupid story."

Robach goes on to say the British palace found out they also had information about the allegations against then-Prince Andrew. She alleged the palace threatened them a "million different ways." According to Robach, ABC News was terrified they wouldn't be able to interview William and Kate. "That also quashed the story," she explained.

Giuffre gave Robach pictures and told her "everything." Up until that point, Giuffre had been in hiding for 12 years, says Robach to claimed they convinced her to come forward. "It was unbelievable what we had, Clinton, we had everything," said Robach. "I tried for three years to get it out, to no avail." Other women were also backing it up.

The Robach hot mic moment was initially leaked by the right-wing activist group Project Veritas in November 2019, per NPR. Executives from ABC News were quick to note their journalists couldn't verify enough of the details. "We would never run away from that," said Chris Vlasto, head of investigations for ABC News.

Apparently, the story was struck down by O.J. Simpson's lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, who was also a legal adviser for Epstein. Dershowitz told NPR that he called ABC News in 2015 to dissuade them from reporting on Giuffre's allegations. "I did not want to see her credibility enhanced by ABC," said Dershowitz, who said he called on his own behalf, not Epstein's.

Robach said in a statement that she was "caught in a private moment of frustration." She went on to say her frustration was over the lack of corroborating evidence, not with ABC. "The interview itself, while I was disappointed it didn't air, didn't meet our standards," she said.