Vice-president tries to deflect criticism of government’s refusal to release so-called Epstein files, triggering renewed calls for transparency – key US politics stories from Sunday 10 August
Vice-president JD Vance’s attempt to deflect attention away from the Trump administration’s handling of the case against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has backfired, triggering renewed calls for transparency.
In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday, Vance tried to brush off criticism of the administration’s refusal to release documents related to the scandal, accusing Joe Biden of doing “absolutely nothing” about it when he was in the White House.
Within minutes of the Fox News interview being broadcast, social media began to hum with renewed cries of “release the files!”
The White House has been caught in a bind over the Epstein affair, which spawned conspiracy theories among many of Donald Trump’s supporters which now senior figures in the administration had actively encouraged during the 2024 campaign.
