Shortly after the Department of Justice and FBI released a memo last summer claiming that Jeffrey Epstein did not have a ‘client list,’ top Trump officials met in the Situation Room.
Trump’s inner circle, including VP JD Vance, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, then-DOJ boss Pam Bondi and her then-deputy Todd Blanche and others convened in the classified space to discuss Epstein, the New York Times reports.
Trump was not present at the meeting, but the contents of the conversation allegedly revolved around how to distance the President from the growing scandal that had fired up the MAGA base.
‘This is a huge problem,’ Vance reportedly told the assembly.
According to the Times, the VP was concerned that even Trump’s most ardent supporters were miffed with the administration’s memo claiming Epstein didn’t have any clients and that there was no ‘credible evidence’ the late pedophile blackmailed anyone.
Others in the room were reportedly skeptical of Vance’s penchant to buy into ‘conspiracy theories.’ Wiles has since said that the VP has been a ‘conspiracy theorist for a decade.’
Vance then argued that the administration should release all its files on Epstein before Congress had the momentum to force their publication, according to the report.
It would signal the White House’s commitment to transparency, he reportedly said.
According to the piece, Vance also pitched an extraordinary media strategy: former Fox News host Tucker Carlson should interview Epstein’s closest associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking.
Last summer top Trump officials met in the Situation Room to discuss how to handle outrage over the DOJ and FBI claiming that it had no ‘client list’ belonging to Jeffrey Epstein
Vice President JD Vance suggested that ex-Fox News host tucker Carlson should interview Epstein’s closest associate Ghislaine Maxwell in a gambit to tamp down negative press
Vance, shown above in the Situation Room during Operation Epic Fury on February 28, met with top Trump officials in the classified space without the President to discuss their options on dealing with icnreasingly negative Epstein-related coverage
Vance argued that her account could vindicate Trump from any Epstein-related allegations, says the Times.
The VP also floated the idea that perhaps the DOJ and FBI should hold a press conference to field questions on the growing scandal from reporters.
If Congress were to push for the release of the files, then there could be a slow drip of damaging stories that could hurt the President and the administration, he reportedly argued.
‘With all due respect,’ James Blair, then-White House deputy chief of staff apparently interjected, ‘the communications strategy of this group got us here. I don’t know that it’s going to get us out. And if you’re going to go in front of the press, you’ve got a lot of work to do.’
Blair then rattled off mock questions to prove how difficult some inquiries may be to answer.
Blanche, now acting Attorney General, reportedly said that the administration could ask Florida courts to unseal testimony about Epstein. Since the bar is high for unsealing records, the courts would probably deny the request, and the admin could then shift the blame for withholding records.
Blanche put in the request for the Florida court to unseal Epstein-related documents over the summer. As he anticipated, that request was initially denied.
But months later, after Congress passed the Epstein Transparency Act in November 2025 to force more transparency – and Trump signed the bill – the court unsealed the federal grand jury transcript with redactions.
Blanche also apparently proposed having Maxwell testify to DOJ lawyers, suggesting he could sit with the sentenced trafficker himself, which he also later did.
Maxwell told Blanche that she never witnessed wrongdoing by Trump, calling him ‘a gentleman in all respects.’
The House Oversight Committee has been investigating Epstein and his connections
David Warrington, Trump’s attorney, reportedly proposed pardoning Maxwell as the meeting went on, according to the Times.
‘Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge PR problem,’ White House Communications Director Steven Cheung noted, the report stated.
He argued that survivors of Epstein’s abuse would make the rounds on cable, slamming the administration for such a maneuver.
‘We can’t offer Ghislaine Maxwell anything,’ Blair reportedly said.
‘A, I don’t know why we would. And B, if we give Ghislaine Maxwell any sort of break whatsoever and then she turns around and says nice things about us, or says nice things about us and we give her a break, it will undermine the entire point of her saying good things,’ he said according to the Times.
‘That will feed the conspiracy theory, period. If there’s nothing for her to say that hurts us, we shouldn’t have to offer her anything.’
At the time, the Wall Street Journal had prepared an explosive report on a birthday letter Trump allegedly sent to Epstein.
The President called top executives at the Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch to try to crush the story before publication.
On a call with Emma Tucker, a Journal executive who is British, he said that she must ‘hate America,’ the Times reported.
The Trump officials reportedly skimmed through the report while in the Situation Room.
Soon after, Trump approved the plan to push for the court to unseal documents, as Blanche had suggested, and he posted on social media.
‘Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!’
In a statement to the Daily Mail, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote that Trump has been ‘totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.’
‘And by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him.’
The Daily Mail reached out to Vance’s team and the DOJ for comment.
