Vice-president JD Vance has sparked fresh outrage after trying to deflect criticism over the Trump administration’s refusal to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday, Vance accused Democrats, including former president Joe Biden, of doing “absolutely nothing” about the Epstein scandal while in office. He claimed that Epstein had “a lot of connections with leftwing politicians and leftwing billionaires” and repeated Trump’s debunked assertion that Bill Clinton visited Epstein’s private island dozens of times.
Vance’s remarks came just days after he reportedly convened a meeting with attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel to devise a new communications strategy on the Epstein affair. The vice-president denied to Fox that the meeting discussed Epstein, though he acknowledged it took place. Social media quickly erupted with renewed demands to “release the files”, with critics pointing out that Trump’s own name appears in the Epstein documents.
Conservative commentator Bill Kristol urged the release of all files “with no redactions of clients, enablers, and see-no-evil associates”. Jon Favreau, former speechwriter for Barack Obama, challenged Vance: “Release the names! Democrats, Republicans, billionaires, or not. What are you afraid of?” Favreau noted that Trump’s name is in the Epstein files, referencing a Wall Street Journal report that a justice department review found the president’s name appeared “multiple times”.
The White House has faced a bind over the Epstein affair, which has fueled conspiracy theories among Trump supporters. In July, the justice department announced there was no Epstein client list and no more files would be made public, contradicting earlier statements from Bondi that a list was “sitting on my desk right now to review”. The reversal triggered bipartisan uproar, with viral clips resurfacing of Vance himself telling podcaster Theo Von before the election: “Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list.”
Vance also warned that “you’re going to see a lot of people get indicted” after Trump accused Obama of “treason”. The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has passed documents to the justice department allegedly showing that the Obama administration tried to link Trump to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Obama dismissed Trump’s call for prosecution as weak.
