MSNBC Host Blasts JD Vance Interview in Heated Epstein Battle

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell has slammed Vice President JD Vance over his timid reaction to the Jeffrey Epstein document dump and how they relate to his White House boss.

On his program The Last Word, O’Donnell called out the vice president’s silence after Donald Trump’s name featured in a release of emails from the Epstein files.

One of the emails, released this week by the House Oversight Committee, saw Epstein call Trump “evil beyond belief” and “mad.”

O’Donnell attempted to compare the Epstein files with the Watergate scandal, noting, “JD Vance is doing exactly what Gerald Ford did while the Nixon presidency was sinking… When things were the darkest for President Richard Nixon, Vice President Gerald Ford said nothing… Tonight, JD Vance is silent. Tonight JD Vance is Gerald Ford.”

Lawrence O'Donnell blasts JD Vance on The Last Word. — Lawrence O’Donnell blasts JD Vance on The Last Word. screen grab

Vance, posting on X, at around 6 p.m. on Thursday, with the caption, “I did two media interviews literally today, one of which is airing in a few hours.”

One of those interviews was with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Thursday, which the host said was an exclusive. It is not clear when the other interview Vance said he conducted will air.

However, the MAGA-friendly Hannity did not mention Epstein once during the soft-touch interview, which saw the Vance discuss Trump’s sleep schedule and deflect from questions about running for president himself.

“JD Vance never said the word Epstein,” O’Donnell said on Thursday. “JD Vance never said the words Ghislaine Maxwell. JD Vance stayed absolutely silent about the worst challenge his boss is facing tonight. In other words, JD Vance is still Gerald Ford tonight.”

O’Donnell pointed out that Hannity also interviewed Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday’s show and again did not mention Epstein.

“In JD Vance’s social media attempt tonight in which he pretends that he is answering me and rising to Donald Trump’s defense about Donald Trump’s self-described 15-year friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, JD Vance himself managed to bring even more attention to my 18-minute statement last night about Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein,” O’Donnell said.

Not a single question or answer about Epstein. Your silence continues. You are Gerald Ford tonight. https://t.co/oTlJK0OBB5

— Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) November 14, 2025

The MSNBC host admitted Vance’s followers on social media “probably don’t often hear what I have to say.”

“But now JD Vance has made the mistake of hooking them up with what I had to say last night about him and Donald Trump, and what Jeffrey Epstein had to say about Donald Trump in his emails,” O’Donnell said. “And that might be the only way JD Vance’s followers ever hear any of that. It’s entirely possible that followers of JD Vance might have no other source for that information, except the video of me talking about it.”

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit in Washington, DC, on November 12, 2025. — Vance is being called out for his reaction to the release of Epstein documents. Alex Wroblewsk/AFP via Getty Images

“JD Vance tonight decided to push out there into the heart of the Trump/Vance social media world, a sealed-off echo chamber where my voice is usually not heard. So thank you for that, Mr. Vice President.”

O’Donnell also called out the president’s silence on the latest Epstein drama.

“In the last 24 hours, Jeffrey Epstein has had more to say about Donald Trump than Donald Trump has had to say about Jeffrey Epstein. And Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Donald Trump has fallen into dead silence,” he said.

“The most talkative president in history spent the day in abject silence about the biggest story of the year about him. What does it take to freeze the most impulsive person to ever occupy the Oval Office into not tweeting once until he tweeted about a book?”

Trump’s Truth Social on Thursday saw the president promote several books to his 11 million followers, but nothing about Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein (left) and Donald Trump as they pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach, Florida on February 22, 1997. — Donald Trump was friends with Jeffrey Epstein for years, but has long denied knowing about his crimes. Davidoff Studios/Getty Images

“How do you freeze those Twitter fingers of his?” O’Donnell asked. “How does that happen? Is he frozen in fear? Does his silence tell us how terrified he is of what has already emerged about him? Jeffrey Epstein, in one of his emails, called Donald Trump ‘evil beyond belief.’ Jeffrey Epstein knew Donald Trump much longer than anyone in Republican politics knows Donald Trump.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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