President Donald Trump appeared to think he’d finally wrapped it up a scandal that had been haunting him for months. His tone was confident, almost triumphant, as though the storm had passed and critics had run out of runway.
Then the very next day, Vice President JD Vance opened his mouth.
Trump moved swiftly after the Justice Department released millions of pages from the long-awaited Epstein files, acting as though the sheer volume of documents had finally put the controversy to rest.
In an interview with The Daily Mail on Tuesday, Feb. 3, Vance set a different tone. He ranted about the wealthy men named in the latest trove related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein released on Friday, Jan. 30, which included former President Bill Clinton and billionaires Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Elon Musk, to name a few.
But it was one word Vance used in telling the British tabloid “there’s a pretty incestuous nature to America’s elites” while simultaneously insisting the files actually exonerate Trump that immediately set off alarms.
Trump himself moved quickly after the Justice Department released roughly 3 million documents, 180,000 emails and thousands of video files, according to The New York Times, appearing eager to frame the massive dump as vindication. Despite his name appearing in the records more than 5,300 times, Trump claimed the release proved he had nothing to hide.
On Monday, Feb. 2, despite the sheer volume of material — and his own past comments — Trump declared he was in no way “friendly with” Epstein.
“Not only wasn’t I friendly with Jeffrey Epstein but, based upon information that has just been released by the Department of Justice, Epstein and a SLEAZEBAG lying ‘author’ named Michael Wolff, conspired in order to damage me and/or my Presidency,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, before suggesting he would sue those who linked him to Epstein.
“So much for the Radical Left’s hope against hope, some of whom I’ll be suing,” he continued. “Additionally, unlike so many people that like to ‘talk’ trash, I never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.”
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The tone suggested Trump believed the document release had outmaneuvered critics — that the sheer scale of the files and his aggressive denial would finally shut the door.
Vance echoed that posture.
“President Trump is very much outside of the social circle,” Vance insisted, even as the president’s name surfaced thousands of times in the material.
“He knows a lot of these people. He certainly has similar wealth and power. But he never really was friendly with Epstein in a way that a lot of these other people were,” Vance added.
That assertion, however, clashes with Trump’s own past words. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, Trump praised Epstein openly.
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump said at the time. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
The irony of Vance’s seeming ignorance that Trump himself is considered one of the “elites” isn’t lost on anyone.
‘I think that it just shows there’s an incestuous nature to America’s elites, and it’s pretty gross. And, a lot of people, I think, it reflects very poorly on them. Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, a lot of others.’
A social media frenzy soon followed.
“Does that include his boss & his best mate musk,” an X user also pointed out referring to Vance trying to claim Trump is not one of the “elites.”
“Do these Republicans have even the slightest idea how ridiculous they sound?” a Mediate reader wondered.
Another responded, “They know that their audience is as dumb as a box of rocks.”
This reader believes something a little more sinister, “His handler is Peter Thiel. He’s an elite in the Epstein Files. Donald Trump is a pedophlie elite billionaire they work with and work for. We see it all now.”
Mediate reader Bobby d Boop summed it up this way, Vance “drew a line at President Donald Trump as ‘never really was friendly with Epstein.’ That is such bullshite. You really have to have the brain of a MAGA to believe it.”
Trump has repeatedly denied knowing about Epstein’s criminal activity in sex trafficking young girls, but in an astounding admission last summer the president said he ended his friendship with Epstein because the disgraced financier was “stealing” girls who worked for Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida resort.
The files contain all kinds of information on Trump and Epstein’s close relationship, including pictures of the pair having a great time, correspondences about Trump and even a vulgar note Trump wrote to Epstein wishing him a happy 50th birthday. Trump’s signature on the note, by the way, has been verified by handwriting experts.
The President has also repeatedly denied ever visiting Epstein’s infamous island in the Caribbean or riding on Epstein’s notorious private plane dubbed the “Lolita Express.”
Last fall Congress passed a bill — signed into law by Trump — that mandated the Department of Justice release all the Epstein files by Dec. 19, 2025. The DOJ still has not released all the files.
