Vice-president JD Vance has sparked a new wave of online outrage after trying to deflect criticism over the Trump administration’s refusal to release Jeffrey Epstein files by blaming Democrats. In a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday, Vance accused Joe Biden of doing “absolutely nothing” about the convicted sex offender during his presidency.
Vance repeated Donald Trump’s previously debunked claim that Bill Clinton visited Epstein’s private island dozens of times. Clinton has acknowledged using Epstein’s jet but denied ever visiting the island. Within minutes of the interview airing, social media users renewed calls to “release the files”, with prominent figures such as Bill Kristol and Jon Favreau demanding full transparency.
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”. Other users circulated old footage of Trump with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial during Trump’s first term. The White House has been caught in a bind over the affair, which fuelled conspiracy theories among Trump supporters. In July, the justice department announced there was no client list and no more files would be made public, contradicting earlier statements by attorney general Pam Bondi that a list was “sitting on my desk”.
Vance himself had called for the Epstein list to be released before the election, telling podcaster Theo Von: “Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list, that is an important thing.” During the Fox News interview, he also warned that “you’re going to see a lot of people get indicted” after Trump accused Barack Obama of treason.
