Trump targets Kimmel in late-night social media attack

Mohan Sinha
24 Nov 2025, 21:15 GMT+10

President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of ABC and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel this week, posting on social media that the network should “get the bum off the air"
Trump has also attacked ABC’s chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, over questions she asked during an Oval Office meeting
This newest clash with Kimmel comes two months after ABC briefly suspended the comedian for comments he made after the assassination of GOP activist Charlie Kirk

NEW YORK CITY, New York: President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of ABC and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel this week, posting on social media that the network should "get the bum off the air." The post came shortly after Kimmel's latest episode aired.

Trump has also attacked ABC's chief White House correspondent, Mary Bruce, over questions she asked during an Oval Office meeting. His press team later sent out a 17-point memo listing complaints about ABC News.

This newest clash with Kimmel comes two months after ABC briefly suspended the comedian for comments he made after the assassination of GOP activist Charlie Kirk. The network reinstated him after backlash.

Kimmel opened his show on November 19 with a harsh monologue targeting Trump, spending several minutes on Jeffrey Epstein and Congress' recent decision to release more of Epstein's correspondence. He joked about "Hurricane Epstein" and questioned what Trump knew and when he knew it.

Trump replied at 12:49 a.m. with a Truth Social post attacking Kimmel's talent and ratings and criticizing ABC affiliates who previously pushed for his suspension. ABC declined to comment. Kimmel's ratings have increased since returning to the air.

Trump has also criticized other late-night hosts, recently calling for NBC to fire Seth Meyers.

The conflict comes as the Epstein story continues to frustrate the White House. Trump insulted multiple reporters over the topic in recent days, including calling one "piggy."

On November 19, the White House released a statementaccusing ABC News of bias and listing grievances going back to Trump's first term. Complaints included fact-checking during the 2024 debate, past reporting errors about the E. Jean Carroll case, and comments made by former ABC journalists.

Following is the White House statement in full, unedited:

ABC "News" is not journalism — it's a Democrat spin operation masquerading as a broadcast network. The network's longstanding commitment to hoaxes, character assassinations, and outright fiction targeting only one side of the political aisle is a deliberate deception to wage war on President Trump and the millions of Americans who elected him to multiple terms.

ABC "News" has a long, rich tradition of peddling lies, conspiracies, and outright opinion thinly veiled as fact:

In 2017, ABC suspended investigative reporter Brian Ross after he falsely reported that President Trump had directed Michael Flynn to contact Russian officials before the 2016 election.
In 2020, ABC suspended veteran correspondent David Wright after he was caught identifying himself as a "socialist" and admitting the network pushes an anti-Trump agenda and airs stories designed for profit, not news.
In 2020, George Stephanopoulos — longtime Democrat operative turned wannabe "journalist" — failed to ask Joe Biden about his son Hunter's infamous laptop or the swirling allegations of impropriety.
In 2024, Stephanopoulos repeatedly lied about President Trump's legal cases. After being sued for promoting these defamatory lies, the network agreed to settle for $16 million and issue a statement of regret.
In October 2024, the network erroneously "fact checked" President Trump at least five times during the presidential debate — but failed to call out his opponent a single time.
Following President Trump's historic 2024 election victory, 90% of the network's coverage of his cabinet nominees was negative.
In January, ABC News gave 27 times more coverage to President Trump's pardons of January 6 defendants than of Biden's last-minute pardons to his corrupt family members.
In January, ABC News editorialized in a partisan way that President Trump's personnel directives were "retribution."
In February, ABC News mischaracterized the Trump Administration's effort to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the bloated federal bureaucracy as an "attack on veterans."
In April, ABC News peddled the debunked lie that the Trump Administration was unilaterally deporting U.S. citizen babies.
In June, ABC News's senior national correspondent Terry Moran smeared White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as a "world-class hater" whose "hatreds are his spiritual nourishment" — just one entry in a long series of Moran's obvious liberal bias during his tenure.
In June, ABC News aired what it called a "violent Border Patrol detention" — but failed to mention the detained illegal immigrant had been chasing federal agents with a weed whacker.
In June, ABC News praised violent Los Angeles rioters for "self-policing" — as local businesses and property were being harmed — during coverage critical of President Trump's National Guard deployment.
In July, ABC News used its special coverage of the One Big Beautiful Bill signing ceremony to falsely claim the legislation would "mostly" benefit "the wealthiest Americans" and repeat the debunked talking point that millions of Americans would "lose their healthcare."
In July, ABC News refused to cover the Office of National Intelligence's announcement of a landmark investigation into Obama-era politicization and manufacturing of intelligence assessments.
In July, ABC News dismissed the vicious MS-13 gang — whose motto is literally "kill, rape, control" — as a "clique."
In September, Stephanopoulos repeatedly — and falsely — insisted that people had somehow "died" because of the Trump Administration's decision to shutter a bloated, wasteful bureaucratic agency.

ABC News has not responded publicly to the criticism.

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