Vice President JD Vance has responded to criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case by blaming Democrats for doing “nothing for four years.”
“We know that Jeffrey Epstein had a lot connections with left-wing politicians and left-wing billionaires,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday. “And now President Trump has demanded full transparency from this, and yet somehow the Democrats are attacking him and not the Biden administration, which did nothing for four years.”
Newsweek has contacted the vice president’s office and the Democratic Party for comment via emails sent outside regular business hours.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has struggled for weeks to respond to the fallout from its broken promise to release more files from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
In a July memo, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI said no further disclosure in the case “would be appropriate or warranted.” The announcement sparked a backlash from Trump’s MAGA base, with many believing the files contain incriminating information about Epstein’s wealthy and powerful friends.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for the release of additional records. While Trump has repeatedly sought to downplay the uproar and move on from it, his personal relationship to Epstein has received renewed scrutiny, and Vance’s comments have only served to renew calls for the release of the records.
What To Know
In the interview on Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo, Vance said: “I laugh at the Democrats who are now all of a sudden so interested in the Epstein files. For four years Joe Biden and the Democrats did absolutely nothing about this story.”
Vance also said, without elaborating: “Democrat billionaires and Democrat political leaders went to Epstein island all the time. Who knows what they did.”
As the interview aired and clips circulated online, social media erupted with renewed calls to “release the files.”
Some said Vance’s remarks reinforced the need for the records to be released, with social media users questioning why the president was “protecting left-wing politicians and left-wing billionaires.”
In the interview, Vance also denied that Trump administration officials had met at his residence to discuss the handling of the Epstein case.
CNN first reported that senior officials were to sit down for a dinner at Vance’s residence last Wednesday to discuss the administration’s handling of the case and the need to craft a unified response. The dinner was later moved to the White House following media coverage about the meeting, CNN reported.
“We did meet at the White House yesterday, but not at the time they said we were going to meet and not about the subject they said we were going to meet about,” Vance told Fox News.
He continued: “We have a great FBI director and a great Department of Justice lead, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and we met to talk about how to ensure we have justice for the American people. We actually didn’t talk about the Epstein issue at all.”
What People Are Saying
Vice President JD Vance told Fox News: “What the president has said very clearly, because we’ve had other meetings about that, is that he wants us to be fully transparent and he wants the credible information out there. So we’re working to compile the thousands and thousands of documents that are out there for full transparency.”
Bill Kristol, a conservative commentator and the director of Defending Democracy Together, wrote on X: “Fine. Release all the files. With victims and survivors’ names and PII redacted. But no redactions of clients, enablers, and see-no-evil associates.”
Jon Favreau, a former Obama aide who co-hosts Pod Save America, wrote on X: “Donald Trump’s name is in the Epstein files and @JDVance has been plotting with the AG and FBI Director to cover it up. Release the names! Democrats, Republicans, billionaires, or not. What are you afraid of, @JDVance?”
Kevin Kruse, a historian, wrote on Bluesky: “The official White House line is now that those dirty Democrats must’ve been hiding some serious dirt about dirty Democrats in the Epstein Files and that’s why the much more transparent Republicans won’t release them now and uh Trump might pardon Maxwell too?”
Nicholas Grossman, an international relations professor at the University of Illinois, wrote on Bluesky: “Why is Donald Trump protecting left-wing politicians and left-wing billionaires who associated with Jeffrey Epstein from justice? Why is he hiding that from the American people? What else must be in the Epstein files that he so badly wants to hide that he’s protecting political opponents to do it?”
What Happens Next
The DOJ has asked federal judges to unseal exhibits shown and testimony given to the grand juries that indicted Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Trump administration is also weighing whether to release a transcript of Maxwell’s recent interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to CNN and Fox News.
Maxwell had been scheduled to speak before the House Oversight Committee on Monday but that has been postponed until after the resolution of her appeal before the Supreme Court.
The committee has subpoenaed the DOJ for files in the investigation into Epstein and issued subpoenas for depositions with former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and eight former top law enforcement officials.
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