The Hill - House Democrat: Vance part of White House Epstein ‘cover up’
On Thursday, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Democrats’ ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, pledged to investigate Vice President Vance’s role in the Trump administration’s “cover-up” of actions tied to now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
His comments follow a report from The New York Times that alleged Vance headed the White House response to an explosive article from The Wall Street Journal detailing President Trump’s relationship with Epstein, amid public pressure to release information regarding the disgraced financier’s associates.
The report says that during a meeting in the White House situation room, Vance drove the Justice Department’s response to media reports tying Trump to Epstein, urging Cabinet officials to release files tied to Epstein’s estate by asserting that a slow rollout led by Congress would only harshen the scandal’s impact on the administration.
The New York Times report says White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; White House counsel David Warrington; press secretary Karoline Leavitt; then deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich; communications director Steven Cheung; then deputy attorney general Todd Blanche; associate attorney general Stanley Woodward Jr.; and deputy chief of staff James Blair were present at the Situation Room meeting.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel dialed in via phone.
“I think for the first time in this whole Epstein investigation, we have the Vice President of the United States that is now part of this massive cover-up,” Garcia told reporters on Thursday.
“I mean, the fact that JD Vance is hosting meetings in the Situation Room, which is designed for national security issues, multiple meetings, he’s leading those meetings, he’s talking about protecting the president. He’s talking about strategy on Ghislaine Maxwell … she exonerates Donald Trump. That’s a huge, that’s huge bombshell reporting,” Garcia added, noting “it confirms for the first time that JD Vance has been a part of the strategy, we’ve not learned that until the reporting from yesterday.”
Garcia said he would ask House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) to subpoena the vice president within the next 24 hours “or so” to testify to the reporting.
“Why are we having meetings in the Situation Room about Epstein strategy?” Garcia asked.
“I think it’s pretty, pretty crazy reporting,” he added.
Neither the White House nor Vance’s office immediately responded to requests for comment on the matter.
In recent months, high-ranking politicians and business leaders including former President Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have been called to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in regard to their Epstein investigation.