Vance says Trump administration ‘absolutely screwed up’ release of the Epstein files

 

Vance says Trump administration ‘absolutely screwed up’ release of the Epstein files

 

The vice president said former AG Pam Bondi ‘overstated what we had.’

 

By Ben Johansen

07/15/2026 05:58 PM EDT

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/15/vance-trump-screwed-up-epstein-files-01000142

 

Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration “absolutely screwed up” the rollout of the Jeffrey Epstein files, conceding the White House botched its communications after raising expectations before concluding there was little new information.

 

“I say this with all candor, like we absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files, like we just did,” Vance said in a taping of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Wednesday. “But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.”

 

Vance pointed to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi as the official most responsible for inflating expectations surrounding the Epstein files, saying she “overstated what we had and what we didn’t have.”

 

Bondi built anticipation ahead of the initial release of the Epstein files in February 2025, telling Fox News that the files were “sitting on my desk right now” for review and suggesting more disclosures were forthcoming. The Justice Department also invited a group of conservative influencers to the White House and distributed binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” before the documents were released, a rollout that drew criticism after the files contained few previously undisclosed details.

 

Bondi did not immediately return a request for comment.

 

The backlash intensified months later, when the DOJ and FBI concluded there was no evidence Epstein maintained a so-called “client list” and said they would release no additional records, angering many of Trump’s supporters who had expected more revelations. In addition to Epstein, only one person connected to him — associate Ghislaine Maxwell — faced charges from U.S. officials.

 

“I think that we should have just dropped everything at the very beginning,” Vance said when asked what he would have advised the administration to do differently. “Obviously it takes a little time to review the stuff … to redact things where you have victims and so forth, but we should have just done it as quickly as possible.”

 

Vance also said in the nearly three-hour podcast taping in Austin, Texas, that Epstein “clearly” had connections to the “highest levels” of the American and Israeli intelligence communities, pointing to Mossad or CIA.

 

He did not provide evidence for the assertion. U.S. authorities have never publicly concluded that Epstein had ties to the CIA, Mossad or any other intelligence agency.

 

Epstein faced various state and federal charges over two decades related to the sexual abuse and trafficking of dozens of underage girls as young as 14. A federal indictment in New York led to his arrest in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, and he pleaded not guilty. The federal case was formally dismissed in August 2019 following his death by suicide in jail while awaiting trial.

 

Vance also accused “certain elements” within the Israeli government of trying to undermine the administration’s negotiations with Iran through a coordinated influence campaign.

 

The vice president pointed to a recent Time magazine story which reported that former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale was paid millions of dollars to help run an Israeli-backed influence campaign aimed at swaying American opinion on a deal to end the Iran war.

 

Vance called it an “extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal.”

 

“My response to that is, well, go to hell,” Vance said.