- On Nov. 12, 2025, social media posts claimed U.S. President Donald Trump called Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace to ask them to remove their names from a discharge petition seeking to force a House vote on releasing records related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
- The claim stemmed from a New York Times report published on Nov. 12. Both the New York Times and CNN reported that Boebert met with White House officials about a push to release the Epstein files. Trump reportedly spoke with Boebert by phone the day before the meeting took place and unsuccessfully tried to reach Mace.
- While we had no reason to doubt the veracity of the outlets’ reporting, we could not independently verify all the details because much of the information came from anonymous sources.
- Based on statements from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Boebert, we could confirm that the congresswoman met with White House officials. However, neither disclosed specifics of that discussion, including who participated.
- Boebert’s office did not respond to our request for comment about the meeting or the reported phone call with Trump by the time of publication. Mace’s office directed us to a video of her remarks shared in a Nov. 12 X post, in which she said she spoke with Trump “last Friday” and that they had “been playing phone tag for the last 24 hours.” A reporter also questioned Mace about whether the president had asked her to “take your name off the list,” to which she replied, “No, he has not.”
- Separately, a video shared on X appeared to show Boebert telling conservative outlet Daily Caller “there was no pressure,” and that she stands by Trump and his administration.
- As of Nov. 13, both lawmakers’ names remained on the House petition.
On Nov. 12, 2025, social media posts (archived here, here and here) claimed U.S. President Donald Trump called Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace to ask them to remove their names from a petition seeking to force a House vote on releasing records tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
The claim circulated on the same day the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released an additional 20,000-plus pages of documents related to Epstein after subpoenaing his estate earlier in the year. Those documents included emails that Epstein sent to multiple contacts, one of which alleged that Trump “knew about the girls” and another that called Trump the “dog that hasn’t barked.”
One of the posts about Trump’s alleged phone calls to the representatives claimed Mace didn’t pick up the call and Boebert did not plan to remove her name from the petition, citing a New York Times report.
Multiple Snopes readers searched our website to confirm whether the calls actually took place.
The claim stemmed from a New York Times report published on Nov. 12.
Boebert reportedly met with top Justice Department and FBI officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, in the White House Situation Room on Nov. 12, according to anonymous sources the Times cited.
CNN also reported (archived) on top Trump administration officials meeting with Boebert on Nov. 12 about a House effort “to force a vote on releasing Justice Department files” related to Epstein, citing multiple sources familiar with the meeting.
Trump reportedly spoke with Boebert by phone the day before the meeting took place, according to two of the Times’ sources.
Trump had tried to reach Mace by phone as well, but the two had not connected, the Times reported, citing another anonymous source.
Despite what the Times described as a “lobbying effort” aimed at persuading Boebert to remove her signature from the petition, that had not happened as of this writing. The discharge petition on the House clerk’s website showed that both Boebert’s and Mace’s names were still listed as of Nov. 13.
While we had no reason to doubt the veracity of the outlets’ reporting, we could not independently verify all the details because much of the information came from anonymous sources.
Based on statements from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Boebert, we could confirm that the congresswoman met with White House officials. However, neither disclosed specifics of that discussion, including who participated.
Boebert’s office did not respond to our request for comment about the meeting or the reported phone call with Trump by the time of publication.
Mace’s office directed us to a video of her remarks shared in a Nov. 12 X post (archived), in which she said she spoke with Trump “last Friday” and that they had “been playing phone tag for the last 24 hours.” A reporter also asked Mace about whether the president had asked her to “take your name off the list,” to which she replied, “No, he has not.”
White House responds
In response to our question about whether Trump called the congresswomen, the White House directed us to Leavitt’s comments on Nov. 12. During a news conference (archived) that day, Leavitt acknowledged the meeting between Boebert and White House officials, but did not disclose any specifics. She added that she would not provide details about conservations that took place in the Situation Room.
The following is a transcript of an exchange between Leavitt and a reporter about 19 minutes into the briefing:
REPORTER: But given your interest in transparency, Karoline, why are White House officials then meeting with Rep. Boebert in an effort to try and get her to not sign this petition calling for the release of the files?
LEAVITT: Doesn’t it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please? Doesn’t that show our level of transparency? Doesn’t that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns?
That’s a defining factor of transparency, having discussions with members of Congress about various issues. And I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room in the press briefing room.
Boebert and Mace respond
Boebert thanked White House officials for meeting with her in a Nov. 12 post on her official X account (archived).
Separately, a video shared on X (archived) appeared to show her telling conservative outlet Daily Caller “there was no pressure,” and that she stands by Trump and his administration.
Boebert’s office did not respond to Snopes’ request for comment on the meeting or the reported phone call with Trump by the time of publication.
On her personal X account, Boebert reposted (archived) commentary from a Colorado news network that read, “It appears Rep. Lauren Boebert did a brave thing today and deserves all our thanks.” She added an “eyes” emoji but did not provide further explanation, leaving her response unclear.
According to CNN, Mace reportedly sent Trump a message outlining why she continued to support the discharge petition. On Nov. 12, she wrote (archived) on X that “the Epstein petition is deeply personal” and that she would “NEVER” abandon “other survivors,” sharing details of her own history with sexual violence.
In a video shared on X (archived), Mace said that she spoke with Trump “last Friday” and that they had “been playing phone tag for the last 24 hours.” A reporter also questioned Mace about whether the president had asked her to “take your name off the list,” to which she replied, “No, he has not.”
Earlier in the video, Mace responded to a question about the White House’s reported opposition to the petition:
Well, I mean, the president, he’s been so good to people like me, to survivors like me, and I have supported him because he has protected women like me. I have told the White House that the Oversight Committee is going to be releasing more information than this discharge petition, I believe. And so that’s, I think, a relevant fact here and important. But for me again…I’m never going to abandon victims. I’m never going to abandon survivors.
Mace also acknowledged what she saw as “legitimacy” in Trump’s claim that “this is a witch hunt.” She criticized Democrats and the media for what she said were their efforts to focus on Trump rather than Epstein’s victims, noting the three Epstein email exchanges mentioning Trump that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released on Nov. 12.
For further reading, we investigated a rumor that Boebert and Mace have audio recordings of Trump crying over the Epstein files.
