JD Vance uses Rogan’s podcast to deceive the public on Epstein scandal

Vice President JD Vance took to Joe Rogan’s MAGA-friendly, misinformation-fueled podcast on Wednesday to push the Trump administration’s propaganda on a variety of topics, including its withholding of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Rogan’s show is known for platforming Nazi apologists, anti-vaccine activists and other far-right figures while often offering meek, if any, pushback. So it seems clear why Vance chose this particular venue to peddle misleading claims about the Epstein files. After all, there’s arguably no bigger megaphone for MAGA propaganda.

And it didn’t hurt that Tuesday’s podcast was released at the same time that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — a key Trump ally who has sought to end further inquiry into the Epstein files — sat for a confirmation hearing en route to potentially becoming the new attorney general.

The vice president told Rogan that Trump and his administration weren’t “forced” to release the previously withheld files.

“People say the president was forced into releasing the documents,” Vance said. “Like, again, the idea that Donald Trump could not have killed that legislation, especially with the United States Senate, is a joke.”

False. In reality, Trump, a former friend of Epstein’s, desperately tried — and failed — to kill the legislation that forced the Justice Department to release the files. He had public tantrums over Republicans who supported the legislation, and there’s no evidence he had the ability to thwart the Senate, which approved the measure by unanimous consent.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has said Trump scolded her for pushing to release the Epstein files and that he told her, “My friends will get hurt.” Beyond that, the White House’s frantic efforts to control the scandalous narrative has been well-documented, including in a recent bombshell report from The New York Times.

In other words, Trump was absolutely forced to release the files.

Vance also said the administration “did mishandle” the release, “especially the communications of it,” framing the fiasco as an oopsie from a well-intentioned White House. And when Rogan asked Vance why some of the people whose names were redacted weren’t alleged victims, Vance gave a mealy mouthed response about the supposed difficulty in discerning victims from perpetrators.

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The DOJ has devastated some of the survivors by leaving their names unredacted — while conversely redacting the names of several powerful and wealthy men, in seeming defiance of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Lawmakers are still accusing the administration of failing to comply with the law, to be clear.

As vice president, Vance has basically assumed the role of the Trump regime’s chief propagandist. And he clearly wanted to use the Rogan interview to try to convince the public that the administration’s handling of the Epstein scandal has been all above board, even if imperfect.

But the idea that all of the White House’s failings essentially boil down to communication is nonsense.

Poor communication doesn’t fully explain why Trump and members of his administration have called the scandal a“hoax” and told Americans they should move on.

Poor communication doesn’t explain why Trump’s first administration reportedly quashed a state-level inquiry into Epstein’s former ranch in New Mexico — a move that Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chair of the House Oversight Committee, raised concerns about earlier this year.

And poor communication also doesn’t explain why the DOJ appears to be impeding New Mexico’s current investigation of the ranch, in ways the state’s attorney general says are causing “real and escalating harm” to the investigation.

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