General Discussion

Numerous journalists, advocates and political operatives had attempted to get, or had been promised, in-person access to Johnson. These promises never panned out. Steve Baer, a conservative mega-donor whose extensive email contacts helped to push the claims, for example, told Jezebel that he never met the accuser in person, despite many attempts.

Only one outlet, the now defunct millennial-targeting site Revelist, scored any sort of interview with the accuser. In July 2016, after first being promised an in-person meeting by Meagher, Revelist's Emily Shugerman had to settle for a conference call that left her questioning whether Johnson really existed. "I don't know if the Katie Johnson I spoke to is the same girl who Trump allegedly raped in 1994, or if that girl even exists," she wrote.

To that end, a large factor inhibiting large-scale coverage of the Johnson claims was that journalists figured out that a former "Jerry Springer" producer with a history of trolling the media had been a key player in promoting them from their inception and played a role in crafting the initial California filing.

Julie K. Brown, the journalist who uncovered the federal government's plea deal with Epstein in 2008, pushed back on the notion that journalists had ignored the Johnson claims, writing on X that, "The woman just wouldn't talk, and her lawyer would not confirm she was even legit. … The address she gave on her first lawsuit was false. She was linked to political operatives at one point."