WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance is openly admitting that the Trump administration dropped the ball when it came to communicating with the public about the Jeffrey Epstein files.
In a wide-ranging podcast conversation with Joe Rogan that was released Wednesday, Vance directed much of the blame toward former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi drew widespread criticism after she famously claimed that an alleged “client list” connected to Epstein was “sitting on my desk right now.” Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was well-known for his extensive connections to powerful and wealthy figures around the world.
Beyond those remarks, the Justice Department under Bondi’s leadership also distributed binders to conservative commentators and influencers that were labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified.”
“I know Pam. I like Pam. I don’t think there was anything malicious going on,” Vance told Rogan. “I think Pam was trying to respond to the political moment. I think she overstated what we had and what we didn’t have.”
Vance said those missteps resulted in Bondi being publicly “roasted” and caused many people to “mistrust” the administration’s stated commitment to transparency regarding the Epstein documents.
“We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. Like, we just did,” Vance said. “But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.”
The Epstein files controversy haunted the administration throughout much of last year. Congress eventually passed legislation requiring the release of a large collection of government documents tied to investigations into the disgraced financier. The Justice Department began making those records public in late December, with the release including photographs, call logs, grand jury testimony, and transcripts of interviews.
