Senior officials in the Trump administration clashed in White House Situation Room meetings over how to handle the release of Jeffrey Epstein files, according to a New York Times report. Vice President JD Vance described the situation as a “huge problem” during a 17 July 2025 meeting, as pressure mounted to publish the documents.
Vance, who reportedly believed in conspiracy theories about Epstein and predators in the ruling class, pushed for full disclosure to appease the Maga coalition. He suggested a PR stunt involving Tucker Carlson interviewing Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, hoping she would exonerate Trump. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche proposed questioning Maxwell and releasing the transcript, but White House counsel David Warrington outlined options including a pardon or sentence reduction—met with strong opposition.
Communications director Steven Cheung warned that pardoning Maxwell, a convicted sex trafficker, would create a “huge PR problem”. Deputy chief of staff James Blair argued that any deal would undermine the credibility of her statements and feed conspiracy theories. In late July, Blanche interviewed Maxwell, who said she had not witnessed inappropriate behaviour by Trump; she was later moved to a minimum-security prison, sparking public outrage.
During the Situation Room meeting, The Wall Street Journal published an article about Trump and Epstein, which Trump had tried to suppress. The article revealed that Trump had contributed a hand-drawn nude woman with a dialogue about a “wonderful secret” to Epstein’s birthday book in 2003. Trump denied writing the note and made phone calls to News Corp executives to block the story.
Congress passed a bill forcing the release of the Epstein files, but many documents remain heavily redacted or unpublished. Trump’s name appears frequently in the files, though he is not accused of any illegal activity related to Epstein.
