JD Vance makes stunning admission over Epstein files to Joe Rogan – 'we screwed up'

JD Vance has controversially agreed that the Trump administration bungled the release of the Epstein files, telling podcast host Joe Rogan that “we absolutely screwed up the comms” but did say it wasn’t because the government was “trying to hide something.

In a far-reaching interview with the American podcaster and sports commentator, the US Vice President said that the Trump administration should have shared all the documents from the start, as promised.

“We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. Like, we just did,” Vance told Rogan. “But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.”

Vance brought up comments from former attorney general Pam Bondi, who had to be in possession of the convicted paedophile’s so-called “client list”.

“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.”

Bondi famously gave conservative commentators and influencers binders that were entitled: “The Epstein files: Phase 1” and “Declassified”. However, the documents were largely already publicly available, and she was publicly “roasted” for her efforts, Vance told Rogan. Ultimately, this fuelled public mistrust in Trump’s ‘transparency’ efforts that were a pillar election promise when the now-US President was vying for a second term.

It did not help that the Department of Justice, under Bondi’s captaincy, repeatedly pushed back the release of documents related to the disgraced paedophile financier-to-the-stars. The delays drew widespread disapproval last year, from both sides of American politics and around the world.

It took US lawmakers passing measures that compelled the Trump government to release a large trove of documents related to federal investigations of Epstein after months of delays.

And, it would seem that the Trump administration is continuing with its belligerent approach to the Epstein files, with the DOJ United States Department of Justice refusing to provide the state of New Mexico with unredacted files pertaining to the convicted paedophile to assist in its investigations pertaining to a ranch owned by Jeffrey Epstein.

In a letter released to the public last week, Democrat and New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez accused the Trump administration of obstructing his state’s investigation in its refusal to release critical and relevant documents.

In a social media post on Wednesday, the US DOJ argued that doing so would violate existing law.

“Federal law, court orders, and privacy protections for victims and witnesses do not allow us to release millions of unredacted documents,” the US DOJ said on social media.

The post came in response to pressure from New Mexico’s Department of Justice as the state continues to carry out investigations into the goings-on at the ranch and the bodies that are buried there – both figuratively and literally – that covered up Epstein’s alleged crimes.

New Mexico authorities searched Epstein’s former ranch in March with cadaver dogs and drones after unconfirmed claims that Epstein ordered the bodies of two foreign girls buried on the property in 2019. The tip-off came in the form of an anonymous email from 2019, that was published in a batch of the Epstein Files eventually released by the US DOJ.