JD Vance is weaving a tangled web as he attempts to defend Donald Trump over the relentless Jeffrey Epstein saga.
The vice president waded in again on Thursday after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times published damning reports about a birthday book for Epstein that Trump was said to have contributed to. The Times published the introductory letter of the book from Ghislaine Maxwell and said Trump’s name appeared on a list of names of people who had participated in the collection.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had signed a cryptic letter to Epstein for the book, written in the outline of a naked woman. At the time, Vance called the story “complete and utter bulls–t” and complained that the newspaper never showed them a copy of the alleged letter.
Following the new reporting on Thursday, MSNBC host Chris Hayes tagged Vance in two posts on X with links to the articles.
“Ok so circling back here, @JDVance,” Hayes wrote. “The contention is that the book is entirely fake? Or Trump being a contributor is fake, or all that is real but someone created a totally fake Trump letter and stuck it in the real book?”
Vance hit back about an hour and a half later. Notably, he didn’t explicitly deny if the book or letter were real, saying instead he had “no idea” if they exist.
“The contention–which is pretty clear if you just read what I said–is that it’s bogus for the WSJ to publish a hit piece without showing us the letter,” he wrote.
“I have no idea if the book exists–WSJ won’t show it to us,” he wrote. “I have no idea if the letter exists–WSJ won’t show it to us. What I find absurd is the idea that Donald Trump was writing poems to Epstein, and I find it equally absurd that a major American paper would attack the President of the United States without revealing the basis for the attack.”
Trump and Vance speak at the Republican National Convention after an assassination attempt left the then-presidential candidate with an ear injury. Andrew Kelly/REUTERS
He did not acknowledge that the Times had published a copy of Maxwell’s letter introducing the book—the very sort of evidence he’s complaining has not been produced.
“We all know what’s going to happen. They’re going to dribble little details out for days or weeks in an effort to assassinate the president’s character,” Vance continued. “They won’t show us this book or allow us to refute it until they’ve wrung every bit of fake news out of the story. And everyone will just move on from the fact that the WSJ is acting like a Democrat SuperPAC. It’s disgraceful, and it’s why the president sued.”
Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Journal and its owner, conservative media titan Rupert Murdoch, over last week’s story, which he said was “fake.”
The note reportedly included Trump’s name scribbled to look like pubic hair below the woman’s waist and was signed off: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump, his future wife Melania, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago club in 2000. Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
The president lashed out on Truth Social shortly after the two new reports were published on Thursday, claiming Democrats were pushing a “Jeffrey Epstein SCAM” to undermine his presidency.
While Democrats have called for more transparency on Epstein, Trump’s own supporters have been among the most vocal complainants.
The Journal‘s latest reporting includes a message from former President Bill Clinton to Epstein for the same book.
That’s something the president would normally pounce on. He’s amplified plenty of conspiracy theories surrounding Clinton, including a 2019 suggestion that the Democrat, who had known ties to Epstein, was involved in the financier’s death while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
“So this is probably fake too, right @JDVance?” Hayes posted, sharing the report about Clinton’s birthday message. “The whole thing made up? Or maybe just the Trump part? I’m losing the thread a little, I gotta say.”