What to Know
Vice President JD Vance spared President Donald Trump as he tore into the “pretty incestuous nature to America’s elites” following the latest Jeffrey Epstein files drop. The Department of Justice released over 3.5 million pages, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images tied to the late convicted sex offender last week, according to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, which included email exchanges with tech billionaire Elon Musk and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, among others. Trump, former President Bill Clinton and other high-profile figures were also included in previous document dumps.
In an interview with the Daily Mail released Tuesday, Vance broke his silence on the new release, saying he believes it “reflects very poorly” on Gates, Clinton and “a lot of others” without citing specific details.
But Vance, however, insisted that Trump, who had once been friends with Epstein, is “very much outside of the social circle.”
“He knows a lot of these people,” Vance said of the president. “He certainly has similar wealth and power. But he never really was friendly with Epstein in a way that a lot of these other people were.”
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein and has not been charged with crimes. They were friends until Trump claimed they had a falling out nearly 20 years ago.
During the interview, Vance also signaled support for former Prince Andrew, known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, to testify before Congress — pointing to calls from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The vice president noted that it ultimately comes down to what Republican lawmakers decide.
“I’ll let them determine whether they should talk to Prince Andrew,” Vance said. “I’d certainly be open to it. But it’s their call, not mine.” Vance’s response to the latest batch of documents diverges from with how Trump has responded when pressed by reporters.
“I think it’s really time for the country to get onto something else, really,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday, before claiming that “nothing came out about me.”
When asked about how the names of tech billionaire Elon Musk and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appear in the files, Trump replied: “I’m sure they’re fine. I’m sure they’re fine. Otherwise, it would have been major headlines.”
Trump has also expressed sympathy for the Clintons, who have agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee following threats of criminal contempt. Like Trump, the former president has denied any wrongdoing in the case.
“I think it’s a shame, to be honest,” Trump said. “I always liked him. Her — she’s a very capable woman. She was better at debating than some of the other people. I will tell you that. She was smarter. Smart woman.”
“I hate to see it in many ways,” he added. “I hate to see it.”
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