New reports have revealed the panic that gripped the White House Situation Room as senior officials clashed over how to handle the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The New York Times report details meetings held on 17 July 2025, where Vice President JD Vance described the situation as 'a huge problem'.
Vance, who was particularly concerned about the files and believed in conspiracy theories about predators in the ruling class, pushed for the full release of all Epstein files to appease the Make America Great Again (Maga) coalition. He suggested a PR stunt involving right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson interviewing Epstein's co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, hoping she would say President Donald Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing.
During the meetings, options such as pardoning Maxwell or reducing her sentence were discussed but met with strong opposition. Communications director Steven Cheung said: 'Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge PR problem.' Deputy chief of staff James Blair argued that offering Maxwell any break would undermine the point of her cooperation and feed conspiracy theories.
In late July, Maxwell was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and told him she had not witnessed any troubling behaviour by Trump. She was subsequently moved to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, which caused public outrage. Blanche later said the move was due to death threats.
The Wall Street Journal published an article about Trump and Epstein, which Trump had tried to suppress. The article reported that Trump, along with other friends of Epstein, had created cards and letters for Epstein's birthday book in 2003. Trump's contribution featured a hand-drawn nude woman with an imagined dialogue about a 'wonderful secret'. Trump claimed he did not write the note and made several phone calls to News Corp executives in an attempt to stop the story.
