JD Vance speaking with Joe Rogan on his podcastVance Tells Rogan Epstein Had Mossad/CIA Ties, Sparks GOP Backlash
Intra-Party Split Detected
Ben Shapiro and other conservative commentators criticized Vance's remarks on Epstein, Israel, and foreign policy as sounding like Democratic talking points and indulging conspiracy theories, while other right-leaning outlets praised his candor and authenticity.
Left says
- •Critics note Vance is not a private citizen speculating on a podcast but the sitting vice president with access to classified intelligence, making his casual entertainment of Mossad/CIA theories about Epstein irresponsible rather than harmless speculation.
- •The files Vance discussed include an interview with a woman alleging Trump sexually assaulted her as a minor in the 1980s, a detail critics say gets lost when Vance frames himself as an objective 'OG conspiracy theorist' rather than someone defending his boss.
- •Vance's admission that the administration 'screwed up the comms' is seen as a limited, carefully managed concession that avoids acknowledging any substantive failure or cover-up in how the files were handled.
- •Blaming former Attorney General Pam Bondi individually is viewed as a convenient way to deflect institutional responsibility onto someone no longer in the administration.
Right says
- •Vance's willingness to admit the administration 'screwed up the comms' on the Epstein files is seen as a rare moment of unscripted honesty from a senior official rather than a scripted political answer.
- •Vance frames himself as having been skeptical and inquisitive about Epstein's intelligence ties long before entering office, arguing his comments reflect genuine curiosity rather than an official administration position.
- •Supporters argue Vance's broader performance—covering Iran, Israel, socialism, and AI—showed him speaking candidly and at length rather than reciting talking points, which some view as a political asset heading into 2028.
- •Some conservative voices, including Ben Shapiro, worry the freewheeling nature of the interview and entertaining of conspiracy theories could make Vance appear unfocused or insufficiently conservative, a concern separate from any left-right dispute over the substance.
Common Take
High Consensus- Vance acknowledged the Trump administration mishandled the communications strategy around releasing the Epstein files.
- Both sides note Vance shifted blame for the botched rollout onto former Attorney General Pam Bondi's 'client list on my desk' comment.
- The interview covered a wide range of topics beyond Epstein, including Iran, Israel, socialism, AI, and aliens, running nearly three hours.
- Vance's comments have generated notable pushback and debate within conservative media circles, not just from the left.
The Arguments
Left argues
Vance is not a private citizen musing on a podcast but the sitting vice president with access to classified intelligence, so casually entertaining Mossad/CIA theories about Epstein lends government-backed credibility to unverified speculation rather than harmless bull-session talk.
Right counters
Vance explicitly framed his comments as personal curiosity predating his time in office, calling himself an 'OG conspiracy theorist' rather than asserting an official intelligence finding, and he stopped well short of claiming classified confirmation of anything.
Right argues
Vance's admission that the administration 'screwed up the comms' is a rare instance of a senior official candidly acknowledging a mistake instead of reciting a scripted denial, which is itself politically notable in a climate of carefully managed messaging.
Left counters
The concession is narrowly limited to communications strategy and conveniently avoids any acknowledgment of substantive failures in the files' release, while pinning blame on Pam Bondi—who is no longer in the administration—lets the institution itself off the hook.
Left argues
Critics note that the files include an interview with a woman alleging Trump sexually assaulted her as a minor, a detail that gets buried when Vance positions himself as a neutral truth-seeker rather than someone with an obvious stake in defending his boss.
Right counters
Vance did directly address the allegations against Trump and said he has seen no credible evidence of wrongdoing, which is a substantive response rather than an evasion, even if reporters wish he'd dwelt on it longer.
Right argues
Supporters argue the sprawling, unscripted nature of the interview—covering Iran, Israel, socialism, and AI—shows a politician willing to think aloud and engage substantively rather than hide behind talking points, which could be a genuine asset in a 2028 campaign.
Right counters
Even sympathetic conservative voices like Ben Shapiro worry that this same freewheeling style made Vance sound unfocused and ideologically adrift, entertaining conspiracy theories and foreign-policy framing that resembled Democratic talking points rather than conservative discipline.
Left argues
Blaming Bondi individually for the botched rollout is a convenient way to localize institutional failure onto one former official, sidestepping the question of why the broader administration allowed years of delay, redactions, and mixed messaging.
Right counters
Vance did acknowledge broader institutional delay, saying the files should have been released 'as quickly as possible' at the outset, which is a criticism of process timing beyond just Bondi's specific comments.
Challenge Questions
These questions target genuine internal contradictions — meant to provoke honest reflection.
Right asks Left
“If critics insist Vance's speculation is dangerous specifically because of his access to classified intelligence, what would count as acceptable public conduct for a VP who says he has no classified confirmation to offer—silence on a topic driving genuine public distrust, or transparency about his own uncertainty?”
Left asks Right
“If Vance's admission that the administration 'screwed up the comms' is being praised as refreshing honesty, why does that same admission stop short of acknowledging any substantive failure in what was withheld or redacted, and is a comms-only mea culpa sufficient given the stakes of the underlying allegations?”
Outlier Report
Left Fringe
Figures like those amplified on HuffPost's social commentary (unnamed 'critics' quoted) and more conspiracy-minded left commentators (e.g., some MSNBC contributors) who suggest Vance's comments imply active cover-up or blackmail, representing maybe 15-20% of the left that treats this as a smoking-gun scandal rather than mere carelessness.
Right Fringe
Ben Shapiro represents a notable right-fringe critique arguing Vance sounded like a Democrat and entertained reckless conspiracy theories, a view likely shared by a vocal but limited slice (10-15%) of movement conservatives skeptical of Vance's 2028 viability, while the MAGA base and Rogan-aligned populists (larger share) embraced his remarks positively.
Noise Assessment
High noise ratio: much of the reaction is driven by media figures and pundits (Shapiro, HuffPost commentary aggregation, X reactions) rather than reflecting deep, stable shifts in mass public opinion, since most Americans have limited attention span for Epstein-related news cycles at this point.
Sources (7)
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/jd-vance-reveals-opinion-on-epstein-files-explains-demon-alien-theory-slams-full-of-s-t-gavin-newsom-with-joe-rogan.jpg?id=67498479&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C11%2C0%2C96" /><br /><br /><p>United States Vice President <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tag/jd-vance" target="_self">JD Vance</a> sat down for a wide-ranging interview with podcaster <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tag/joe-rogan" target="_self">Joe Rogan</a>. The eyebrow-raising interview included skewering Democratic California Gov. <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tag/gavin-newsom" target="_blank">Gavin Newsom</a>, discussing the Epstein files, and explaining <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tag/aliens" target="_blank">aliens</a> possibly being demons. </p><p>In the nearly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtxyvD58eDg&t=2407s" target="_blank">three-hour podcast interview</a> released Wednesday, Vance said many Republicans are "skeptical" because many Democrats want it to be illegal for voters to show identification when voting in elections.</p><p class="pull-quote">'I admire the f**king sheer tenacity that he has in being full of s**t.'</p><p>Vance <a href="https://x.com/theblaze/status/2077783617351086532" target="_blank">asked</a>, "Why not just have voter ID?"</p><p>Rogan said opposition to voter identification requirements makes it seem "like you want people to cheat." </p><p>Vance declared, "If you don't want to cheat in the election, then just make everybody actually show an ID."</p><p>When Rogan asked about the United States' military action against Iran, Vance said he would support President Donald Trump's overseas intervention as long as the decisions are "legal and ethical."</p><p>Vance stated, “The goal is certainly good, which is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”</p><p>The prolific podcaster asked about the release of the files related to the investigation into convicted pedophile <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tag/jeffrey-epstein" target="_blank">Jeffrey Epstein</a>. </p><p>The vice president conceded that the administration had “mishandled” the <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tag/epstein-files" target="_blank">Epstein files</a>.</p><p>"If people want to say we mishandled the Epstein release, guilty. We did mishandle it — especially the communications of it," Vance said. </p><p>"We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. We just did," Vance admitted. </p><p>However, Vance stressed there was no truth to theories that the White House was attempting to hide anything about the Epstein files. </p><p>Vance declared himself to be one of the original "Epstein conspiracy theorists" and said that he has "probably gone down every single rabbit hole we could go down."</p><p>Vance added, "But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No."</p><p>Vance said former Attorney General Pam Bondi's claim about having binders of documents on her desk made "people mistrust the entire effort" and "overstated what we had and what we didn't have."</p><p>Vance said that he does "like" Bondi and that the binder incident was likely her "trying to respond to the political moment."</p><p>Vance noted, "We did release all these files. Did it take longer than it should have taken? Yes."</p><p>Vance said the Epstein files should have been "dropped at the very beginning" once all the reviews and redactions had been done.</p><p>"We should have just done it as quickly as possible," Vance stated. </p><p>Vance said he believes that Epstein "clearly" had connections to the highest level of American and Israeli intelligence. </p><p>"Yeah, Mossad or CIA or some other deep state, whether in America or Israel or another country — or both," Vance said. "Look, he clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence."</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/shows/relatable/jd-vance-reveals-the-heartbreaking-conversation-that-convinced-him-to-have-a-fourth-child" target="_self">JD Vance reveals the heartbreaking conversation that convinced him to have a fourth child</a></strong></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube"> <span class="rm-shortcode" style="display: block; padding-top: 56.25%;"></span> </p><p>Rogan — who showed support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a democratic socialist, in 2020 — said that he is "really concerned" about Americans rallying around socialism.</p><p>"I'm really concerned that people think that's a good idea and that they think that socialism just hasn't been done correctly," Rogan told Vance. "That drives me nuts."</p><p>Rogan said socialism "always leads to one thing: It leads to a very powerful military government that controls the population — period, end of discussion."</p><p>Vance agreed with Rogan's assessment.</p><p>"The whole argument of communism is that you seize the means of production," Vance said. "But because the most powerful means of production is the human mind, you ultimately have to get into totalitarianism." </p><p>Vance expressed concern that artificial intelligence could unintentionally usher in communism. </p><p>"The fundamental challenge of AI is, it's going to unleash a lot of wealth creation, but if that wealth creation all goes to some segment of people, you're going to have communism," Vance warned. </p><p>"But if you don't ensure that there's some broader prosperity from that wealth creation, we have run this experiment before, and it leads to communism," he added.</p><p>Vance and Rogan both agreed that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is "full of s**t." The pair rehashed the time when Newsom told a group that he "cannot read a speech."</p><p>As <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/im-like-you-newsom-insults-audience-in-a-failed-attempt-to-relate-to-voters-in-majority-black-city" target="_self">Blaze News reported in February</a>, Newsom apparently attempted to appeal to a reportedly majority-black audience at a book tour stop in Atlanta. </p><p>"I'm not trying to impress you," Newsom told the group. "I'm just trying to impress upon you, I'm like you. I'm no better than you. You know, I'm a 960 SAT guy. I'm not trying to offend anyone, you know, trying to act all there if you got a 940."</p><p>"You never see me read a speech because I cannot read a speech," Newsom added.</p><p>Vance said of Newsom, "He's full of s**t."</p><p>Rogan replied, "He's so full of s**t. Admirably full of s**t. I admire the f**king sheer tenacity that he has in being full of s**t."</p><p>Rogan asked Vance about <a href="https://x.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2037612477282685380" target="_blank">remarks</a> he made earlier this year, where he revealed that he believes aliens could be demons. </p><p>"I'm not one of these people who's, like, a hyper-rationalist," Vance responded. "I think that there are things happening in the world that we're not always seeing. I believe in God."</p><p>"If you look historically at things that are similar to the alien phenomenon, where some strange being, it kind of looks like a human being, but ... that's not human, and it shows a particular interest in human beings, and then it takes the human beings and does weird experiments on them."</p><p>Vance said either it is "bulls**t," you're "talking to a crazy person," or aliens could be demons.</p><p>"Just because I believe in the supernatural doesn't mean I believe in everything supernatural,” Vance continued. “But if we're talking about an extraterrestrial being that is human-like but not human that contains effectively infinite powers and is torturing human beings, you can call it an alien if you want, but I think there's a lot of historical precedent to call that a demon.”</p><p>Rogan described an alleged alien encounter where the extraterrestrial healed a man. Vance replied, “Extra-powerful beings, in this case communicating telepathically, helping people, sounds like an angel."</p><p>The entire "Joe Rogan Experience" interview with JD Vance can be seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtxyvD58eDg&t=2407s" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p><em><em>Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. </em></em><em><em><a href="https://archive.ph/o/nIfUb/https://www.theblaze.com/newsletters/theblaze-articlelink" target="_self">Sign up here</a></em></em><em><em>!</em></em></p>
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=67500663&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0" /><br /><br /><p>For years, the Epstein files have fueled endless speculation, conspiracy theories, and demands for transparency — which have resulted in widespread disappointment among Americans demanding to know the truth.</p><p>Now, on the biggest podcast in the world, Vice President JD Vance is offering one of the administration’s most direct explanations yet for why the highly anticipated document release left so many Americans frustrated.</p><p>“The Epstein files were supposed to be released,” Joe Rogan said to Vance on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “And there was a tremendous amount of resistance to those files being released. That concerned a lot of people because if you’re talking about very wealthy, powerful people that were engaged in crimes.”</p><p>“So you’re basically saying the fear is that whatever’s in the Epstein files was used to blackmail the administration into doing the Iran thing,” Vance replied.</p><h3></h3><br /><span class="rm-shortcode" style="display: block; padding-top: 56.25%;"></span><p>“Or, at the very least, the people that were involved in the Epstein files that didn’t want them coming out had undue influence,” Rogan said.</p><p>“I say this with all candor, we absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. Like we just did. But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No,” Vance explained.</p><p>Instead, Vance believes the reason the administration “screwed up the comms” was that former Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed the client list was on her desk.</p><p>“So, what was the purpose of that performative display of the Epstein files, and she was saying there’s tens of thousands of hours of film?” Rogan asked.</p><p>“I don’t know what the purpose of it was, but I know that the effect of it was to make people mistrust the entire effort,” Vance answered, noting that he believes Bondi was “trying to respond to the political moment.”</p><p>Vance called himself one of the “OG Epstein conspiracy theorists” and admitted to going “down every single rabbit hole.”</p><p>“The original sin of the Epstein investigation, and obviously I’m biased here, but it was not what Donald Trump and the administration did in 2025. It was, you have to go back to 2007, 2008, the original Alex Acosta investigation of Jeffrey Epstein where he basically dropped the federal charges,” he explained.</p><p>“You go to the original warrant back in 2008, what was he looking for? What was he allowed to look for? What were they collecting? It was not looking at a broader conspiracy,” he added.</p><p>“That’s fascinating,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments.</p><p>“I don’t know if we’ll ever find out the truth,” he adds, “but that was fascinating.”</p><h2>Want more from Pat Gray?</h2><p>To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, <a href="https://get.blazetv.com/pat/?utm_source=theblaze&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=article_shortcode_patgray" target="_blank">subscribe to BlazeTV</a> — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.</p>
“It’s kind of insane for the Vice President of the United States to just be wondering blithely about any of this,” one commenter wrote.
The vice president shifted the blame to someone who is no longer in the administration.
Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro said Thursday that Vice President Vance sounded similar to a Democrat on a recent episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast. “I tuned into Joe Rogan yesterday and heard Bernie Sanders’ economics, Barack Obama’s foreign policy, and Ro Khanna’s conspiracy theories. And then I realized JD Vance was talking. I want a candidate…
Shapiro’s friction with other right-wingers has grown while his own popularity appears to wane.