The Trump administration has been trying to find a way to distract its supporters from the demand for a full release of the Epstein files. But Vice President JD Vance’s new “whataboutism” attempt may backfire and actually draw more attention to the issue. It’s a mistake that seems likely to keep the story in the spotlight for activists.
“I laugh at the Democrats who are now all of a sudden so interested in the Epstein files,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. “For four years, Joe Biden and the Democrats did absolutely nothing about this story. We know that Jeffrey Epstein had a lot of connections with left-wing politicians and left-wing billionaires. And now President Trump has demanded full transparency from this, and yet somehow the Democrats are attacking him, and not the Biden administration, which did nothing for four years.”
Vance’s comments may actually make the case for releasing the Epstein files even stronger.
Trump has not really demanded “full transparency.” His administration has changed its position on releasing all the Epstein-related documents it once claimed to have. Also, Vance’s timeline is wrong. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 — when Trump was president. Trump, not Biden, had the first chance to get and share new information about Epstein’s death and his social circle. And it was Trump’s Department of Justice that gave Epstein a so-called “sweetheart deal.”
Still, Vance is making the argument for releasing the files stronger. He points out that Democrats might have reason to worry because Epstein had social connections to liberals, including former President Bill Clinton. That’s exactly why many Trump supporters want to see the files.
The appeal of the Epstein files is that they may reveal a secret world of powerful people taking advantage of others, across the political spectrum. For those who follow the QAnon conspiracy theory, the files are thought to show that politicians and wealthy people on the left may have the most to lose. Vance’s suggestion that the files might have damaging information about Democrats won’t calm people demanding the files — they already believe it. His remarks could actually make them push harder for their release.
Trump is “trying to move Epstein off the front page” by talking about crime in D.C., according to a professor.
The Trump administration’s excuses might work if only Democrats cared about this issue. But many Republicans also care. A Reuters-Ipsos poll from mid-July found that about a third of Republicans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the matter, and 62% believed the government was hiding information on Epstein’s client list. The poll also found that 82% of Democrats disapproved of Trump’s actions, and the same number thought the government was hiding information.
Trump’s “nothing to see here” story isn’t helped by news reports showing his ties to Epstein. The Wall Street Journal, citing senior officials, reported in July that Trump’s name appears in the Department of Justice’s files on Epstein multiple times. Even if Trump were connected in some way, it’s unclear how much of his loyal base would stop supporting him. But his effort to change the topic is easy to notice.
As mentioned before, Democratic criticism of Trump is different from MAGA’s. Democrats are not claiming the Epstein files contain a clear political advantage for them. They are calling out Trump and his allies for promising to release the files, saying the Epstein client list was supposedly on the attorney general’s desk, and then claiming there was no list. The more excuses Trump gives, the more it looks like he — not the Democrats — has something to hide.
