Vice President JD Vance speaks with reporters after meeting with House Republicans at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2026. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)
Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration mishandled the release of the Epstein files, stating the Justice Department should have “just dropped everything at the very beginning.”
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The vice president, who delivered the candid remarks on Wednesday’s episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast, said the administration had “absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files,” but contended that the delays were not an attempt to hide secrets.
Vance acknowledged the “bitching and moaning” from within the administration in regards to collecting hundreds of thousands of documents.
“Did it take longer than it should have taken?” he said. “Yes, but we did release these files.”
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The administration began to release files in troves after pushes from both Democrats and members of the MAGA movement, which ramped up after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last November.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi “overstated what we had and what we didn’t have” in an effort to “respond to the political moment,” Vance said.
“She got roasted for it publicly by a lot of people, including me,” said Vance, who called himself one of the original conspiracy theorists behind the Epstein files.
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The documents contain details about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minors, as well as references to his larger network of high-profile close friends during the height of his fame, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. The president and former president have condemned Epstein and have denied any wrongdoing — but it has not quelled the circulation of conspiracy theories.
The entire effort could have been handled more expeditiously, Vance said on the three-hour podcast episode.
“Obviously, it takes a little time to review the stuff, to find the stuff, to redact things where you have victims and so forth,” he said. “But we should have just done it as quickly as possible.”
Vance said part of the delay was due to the Justice Department managing redactions between alleged victims who were also identified as alleged co-conspirators in the documents.
“So what DOJ tried to do was make that judgment as best they could and release as much as possible,” said Vance, who swapped and speculated over conspiracy theories with Rogan at points throughout the episode.
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