A new report from The New York Times has disclosed extraordinary details of the panic inside the Trump administration over the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The report reveals that senior officials clashed in White House Situation Room meetings as President Donald Trump resisted publishing the files, despite having promised to do so.
Vice President JD Vance was particularly concerned, believing in some of the darkest conspiracy theories about Epstein and predators in the ruling class. He repeatedly pressed for full disclosure to pacify fury within the Make America Great Again coalition. Vance even suggested a public relations stunt involving right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson interviewing Epstein's co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, hoping she would say Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing.
During one meeting, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche proposed having Department of Justice lawyers question Maxwell and release the transcript. White House counsel David Warrington outlined options including pardoning Maxwell or reducing her sentence, but communications director Steven Cheung strongly objected, saying: 'Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge PR problem.' Deputy chief of staff James Blair also warned against offering Maxwell any break, as it would feed conspiracy theories.
In late July, Maxwell was interviewed by Blanche and told him she had not witnessed any troubling behaviour by Trump. She was later moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas, which sparked public outrage. Blanche said the move was due to death threats.
The report also details Trump's attempts to suppress a Wall Street Journal article about his involvement in Epstein's birthday book. Trump had created a card featuring a hand-drawn nude woman with dialogue about a 'wonderful secret', signed with his signature in place of the woman's pubic hair. Trump made phone calls to News Corp executives and the Journal's editor to stop the story, claiming he did not write the note.
