Vance calls himself an Epstein 'conspiracy theorist' in 'The View' appearance

Vice President J.D. Vance was put on a tight rope about the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein Files during his appearance on ABC's 'The View' in light of the reported Situation Room review. According to a New York Times report, Vance warned his colleagues that the public and political traction surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files represented a "huge problem" during a meeting at the White House's Situation Room.

During the episode, Ana Navarro, who has been critical of the Trump administration, said, addressing Vance, that the President had signed the Epstein files Transparency Act "under duress." Vance responded by defending Trump and dismissing the idea that his administration had not been transparent. "One of the things you see in the Epstein emails is that Jeffrey Epstein hated Donald Trump and that Donald Trump literally reported Jeffrey Epstein to the police," Vance said. 

In response, Navarro said, "They were best friends for about a decade. And remember, he signed that transparency act under duress." She averred that certain members of the GOP, like Marjorie Taylor-Greene, did not "give in to his pressure" and left him with no choice but to sign the bill. Navarro also claimed that the only reason Trump reported Epstein to the police was due to a falling out they had over a real estate deal. "Let's just be truthful and transparent. They didn't just know each other; they were incredibly close friends," she said.

Vance countered Navarro's claim, saying, "He was very frustrated that the Democrats were making it about him. The President was frustrated about that, absolutely. But he eventually came to say, 'You know what? Let's just get everything out there. Let's have this out in the public.'" Vance also claimed that it was Trump who called the Senators and urged them to pass the bill. 

When asked about what happened in the Situation Room, Vance asked the hosts not to believe everything they read. "I am frankly kind of a conspiracy theorist on the Epstein stuff. That's one of the things that's true, is that somebody called me a conspiracy theorist," he said.

Speaking in an interview on CBS, Vance claimed that while there were a lot of files yet to be released, a lot of them were under the seal of the court, meaning that the administration would require approval from the American legal system to release them. He also claimed that some congressional Democrats were running a narrative that President Trump took part in illegal activities with Epstein.

"There is this media narrative out there, I think driven by certain congressional Democrats, that Donald Trump, who the files show turned Epstein into the police, they say Trump somehow did something wrong with Jeffrey Epstein. That just isn't supported by the evidence," he said.