Vance Says Trump Administration ‘Screwed Up’ Communication on Epstein Files Release

Vice President JD Vance acknowledged Wednesday that the Trump administration mishandled its messaging surrounding the release of Department of Justice files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while rejecting the notion that officials were attempting to conceal information.
Speaking during a nearly three-hour interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Vance said the administration made mistakes in how it communicated about the highly anticipated documents but insisted those errors were not part of an effort to hide evidence.
“We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files,” Vance said. “But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.”
Joe Rogan raised the issue while discussing claims that President Donald Trump could be manipulated, using the Epstein files controversy as an example. Vance dismissed that argument outright.
“That’s not true, dude,” the vice president said.
Later in the discussion, Rogan remarked that there appeared to be “a tremendous amount of resistance” to releasing the files.
Vance pointed to comments made by former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had previously said she had an Epstein “client list” on her desk. According to Vance, the information Bondi referenced had already been made public, leading Rogan to question what purpose the announcement served.
“What was the purpose of that performative display?” Rogan asked.
Vance responded that he could not explain the reasoning behind the comments but believed they ultimately damaged public confidence in the effort to release the records.
“I don’t know what the purpose of it was, but I know that the effect of it was to make people mistrust the entire effort,” Vance said.
Despite criticizing the messaging, Vance defended Bondi personally, saying he knows and likes her and does not believe there was any malicious intent behind her remarks.
Instead, he suggested Bondi was attempting to respond to political pressure but overstated what the government possessed and what it did not.
“I think she overstated what we have and didn’t have,” Vance said, adding that she faced significant criticism afterward, including from him.
Vance also described himself as “one of the OG Epstein conspiracy theorists,” saying he had explored virtually every theory surrounding the case over the years.
Bondi drew criticism from lawmakers in both parties over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. The documents were released gradually over the course of a month following a congressionally mandated deadline established under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The rollout included numerous redactions, while some records identified victims despite the law's requirements.
Vance also defended Trump's response to the controversy. The president initially opposed a House effort requiring the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. After the measure passed the House through a discharge petition and later cleared the Senate, Trump signed it into law.
Trump previously had a relationship with Epstein before the two later had a falling-out that occurred years before Epstein was first prosecuted for his crimes.
Critics have argued the records could contain damaging information about Trump, allegations that both the president and his administration have consistently denied.
Vance said he has never seen credible evidence suggesting Trump engaged in wrongdoing involving minors.
“I’ve never seen a single piece of credible evidence that the president of the United States engaged in wrongdoing with minors ever,” Vance said.
He added that when Trump refers to the issue as a “hoax,” the president is responding to allegations that he was involved in criminal conduct, calling those accusations “absurd.”
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also sought to question Bondi about the Justice Department’s handling of the files. Last month, the committee released a 111-page transcript from a four-hour interview in which Bondi declined to answer several questions regarding the documents, instead directing responsibility to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.