Communication within the Trump administration has broken down again as various players try to remember which version of reality they're currently selling about MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's longtime friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump and Vance claimed that if elected, they would release the full Epstein files, which had been sealed until 2024 due to ongoing litigation against Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump's first Attorney General of his second term claimed she had the files, then Trump pivoted to claiming the files didn't exist.
Then once their existence became undeniable, Trump pivoted to claiming they were inconsequential. And when the contents of the files began leaking, Trump claimed it was all a hoax perpetrated by the Democrats.
This version ignores the fact that the indictment and arrest of Jeffrey Epstein was done in 2019, during Trump's first term in office by Trump's Department of Justice. And Epstein died while in the federal custody of Trump's DOJ.
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First Lady Melania Trump appears to be mounting her own CYA campaign over her ties to Epstein. In all the confusion, it's unclear which version anyone else is currently on.
But Vance was recently put on the spot about Trump's version of "Democratic hoax." During a Q&A session at a very sparsely attended Turning Point USA event in Athens, Georgia, on Tuesday, Vance was asked to explain Trump’s claims.
Vance deflected from the obvious lie by telling the sparse crowd what Trump really meant when he said that the files related to late registered sex offender and longtime friend Jeffrey Epstein were a Democratic hoax. Taking a Trump lie and pivoting to a new meaning is a frequent tactic used by the POTUS's enablers when confronted with the truth.
Vance stated:
"I don’t want powerful people being involved in disgusting behavior."
"But I have to defend the President because when he said that it was a 'hoax,' what he was talking about was this Democratic idea that he’s connected to Epstein."
You can see Vance’s comments here:
Vance added:
"When the President says, ‘This is a hoax,’ he’s not saying it’s a hoax that Epstein was a scumbag."
"He’s saying this Democratic idea that somehow he was Epstein’s best friend, that is a hoax."
But people had receipts to counter the Trump administration’s latest narrative about the POTUS's ties to Epstein.
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Vance has stepped in it before while trying to defend Trump over his close ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
When a description of Trump's infamous birthday letter to Epstein was revealed by the Wall Street Journal, Vance declared it didn't exist.
When the actual letter was shared from the Epstein files, Vance and Trump had to pivot to a new series of "alternative truths."
After Trump defenders repeatedly claimed Trump cut ties with Epstein over his sex trafficking, with some even claiming he was an FBI informant, Trump exposed the truth while visiting the UK in July of 2025.
After lamenting to reporters that he never had the "privilege" of going to Epstein’s infamous island, the POTUS revealed his falling out with the registered sex offender was over his longtime buddy hiring Trump's own underage Mar-a-Lago employees, one of which was Prince Andrew's accuser, the late Virginia Giuffre.
Who knows what new version tomorrow will bring.
