JD Vance’s previous tweets present why the ‘Epstein shopper listing’ is turning into such an issue for Trump

[ad_1] President Donald Trump’s workforce spent a great deal of power Monday in unfamiliar territory: on the improper aspect of a shedding battle towards America’s excessive on-line conspiracy theorists.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was the face of the trouble at her day by day information briefing. But when Leavitt is on the lookout for who's fueling the hypothesis across the lifeless New York financier and intercourse legal who appeared on digital camera yucking it up together with her boss, she wants to recollect: the decision is coming from contained in the (White) home.

Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 whereas awaiting a second prosecution for his long-rumored intercourse trafficking of underage women. His demise was dominated a suicide.

<img alt="A new memo from the Department of Justice and the FBI states Jeffrey Epstein had no " loading="lazy" width="960" height="640" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="rounded-lg" style="color:transparent" src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/IMtaERX5B99Ah6p9_qGjsg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_independent_635/8eec5242694c3bd645a87ef51999151d"/> A brand new memo from the Division of Justice and the FBI states Jeffrey Epstein had no "shopper listing" and located no credible proof of blackmail (New York State Intercourse Offender Registry)

At Monday’s information briefing, the White Home spokeswoman sparred with Fox’s Peter Doocy (one other little bit of unfamiliar turf for her) over whether or not Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi had particularly referred to the “Epstein Consumer Checklist” when she advised an interviewer she had “it on my desk” earlier this yr.

That comment from Bondi, made throughout a Fox Information interview, has triggered complications for the administration because it printed a report stating that Epstein died by suicide and did so with out creating a listing of names of highly effective males immediately concerned in his intercourse crimes involving underaged women.

The FBI and Justice Division launched movies the businesses say present no one from exterior entered the widespread space on the detention facility the place Epstein was held in Manhattan over the timeframe between when he was locked in his cell for the night and the subsequent morning.

<img alt="Karoline Leavitt denied the existence of an Epstein client list at Monday's White House news briefing (Getty Images)" loading="lazy" width="960" height="640" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="rounded-lg" style="color:transparent" src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/HMJZOTiT4qpMd3PGtNzH_g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_independent_635/6924c0672f407c50fa967a2970e3c4b9"/> Karoline Leavitt denied the existence of an Epstein shopper listing at Monday's White Home information briefing (Getty Photos)

After Doocy quoted Bondi immediately, Leavitt replied, “Sure. She was saying the whole thing of all the paperwork, all the paper regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes”. Earlier court docket filings have revealed the names of males related to Epstein, however no definitive proof has emerged linking particular folks to crimes, aside from Epstein and his convicted “madam”, Ghislaine Maxwell.

This in fact didn't fulfill the net followers of reports about Epstein and the rumors in regards to the highly effective figures with whom he was involved. Intrigue over the arrest and demise of Epstein in custody was supercharged by video of him with now-President Donald Trump and his in depth identified relationships with a variety of highly effective folks and establishments, which he cultivated by way of his monetary largesse. Different figures with identified ties to Epstein embrace former President Invoice Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew, and the establishment of Harvard College, the place he maintained an workplace and visited campus after his 2008 intercourse crimes conviction.

<img alt="The memo's release follows accusations by Elon Musk that Donald Trump was in the " loading="lazy" width="960" height="719" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="rounded-lg" style="color:transparent" src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/JY2TauaHG3WCrX9bs1ZUBw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTcxOTtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_independent_635/029efbf1c02c05000da86ddf768ea3ff"/> The memo's launch follows accusations by Elon Musk that Donald Trump was within the "Epstein recordsdata," with Musk reacting strongly to the brand new findings (NBC Information)

Elon Musk, throughout his public falling-out with the president final month, tweeted after which deleted a message accusing Trump of being in “the Epstein Information”, and mentioned it was the rationale the listing of Epstein’s well-known purchasers was not being launched. His opportunistic cost served to maintain the story within the minds of many, and compelled a denial from Vice President JD Vance. He renewed his efforts to push that connection after the administration’s announcement.

“To start with, completely not. Donald Trump did not do something improper with Jeffrey Epstein,” Vance mentioned on Theo Von’s podcast. “Regardless of the Democrats and the media says about him, that is completely BS.”

On Monday, “Epstein” was the highest development on X/Twitter. Laura Loomer, one among Trump’s occasional White Home friends and a semi-adviser accountable for a loyalty purge of the Nationwide Safety Council, was in trademark venom-spitting mode as she accused Bondi of “incompetence”.

“@AGPamBondi ought to resign for mendacity to the American Folks,” tweeted Loomer Monday afternoon.

There’s no query: Trumpworld has misplaced the narrative on this one. However there’s a cause why: this can be a beast (partly) of its personal making.

Whereas Vance is now within the uncomfortable spot of defending his boss from hypothesis, he was as soon as one of many cheerleaders of the conspiracy himself, and never simply as a one-off: it was throughout his earlier look on Von’s podcast that the vice chairman, then a U.S. senator, advised his host: “we have to launch the Epstein [client] listing”.

And on X, Vance was much more acerbic criticizing the Biden administration over the investigation. In late 2021, simply months earlier than he would go on to change into the GOP nominee for Senate in Ohio, the Hillbilly Elegy author retweeted a “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist who has gone on to change into a fixture inside Trumpworld, Jack Posobiec.

<img alt="On X and in media appearances JD Vance happily fueled speculation about a government cover-up of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and associates (AP)" loading="lazy" width="960" height="640" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="rounded-lg" style="color:transparent" src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/JU21fWsqYZyQ6kp1IlisUw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_independent_635/4d68cad2ae2f2db0866131c55b1795c3"/> On X and in media appearances JD Vance fortunately fueled hypothesis a couple of authorities cover-up of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and associates (AP)

“What potential curiosity would the U.S. authorities have in maintaining Epstein’s purchasers secret? Oh...” tweeted the nation’s future vice chairman.

In a second, longer rant aimed toward one other one among MAGA’s favourite targets, he then added: “For those who’re a journalist and also you’re not asking questions on this case try to be ashamed of your self. What objective do you even serve? I’m positive there’s a center class teenager someplace who might use some harassing proper now however possibly attempt to do your job now and again.”

There’s two classes to take right here: one, that not even the MAGA-fied White Home can wrangle a conspiracy as soon as the right-wing latches on to it; and second, that Vance made a severe judgement error when, in October of 2024, one week and 6 days earlier than Election Day, he was offered with the selection of whether or not or to not fire up a conspiracy involving his personal working mate.

Vance, then a U.S. senator, knew higher. As a substitute of definitively confirming the supposed existence of the “Epstein Consumer Checklist” — of which his workforce is now denying the existence — he might have refused to invest. Or he might have taken the DoJ at its phrase, given how possible it was on the time that he’d be defending that phrase sooner or later.

However on the time, it was nonetheless an issue for Joe Biden’s Justice Division and Kamala Harris’s legacy because the “prosecutor within the White Home”.