JD Vance breaks ranks with Trump and admits he has 'no idea' if president's letter to Epstein is real
Vance had initially slammed the Wall Street Journal's article as 'complete and utter bulls***,' but he has since admitted in a sharply worded tweet that he has 'no idea' whether the letter exists.
Vance's back peddle was seen as suspicious by many - and his stance contradicts the president's repeated claims that the letter is entirely made up and does not exist.
The vice president said: 'I have no idea if the book exists - WSJ won't show it to us. I have no idea if the letter exists - WSJ won't show it to us.'
His remarks came after MSNBC host Chris Hayes pressed him on social media for clarity, asking if Vance was claiming the entire book of birthday letters to Epstein was fake, or just the contribution attributed to Trump.
Vance doubled down on his issue not with the content itself, but with what he described as irresponsible journalism.
'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.'
He then accused the Wall Street Journal of running a partisan smear campaign.
Vance's stance stands apart from the president's repeated claims that the letter is entirely made up
'They're going to dribble little details out for days or weeks in an effort to assassinate the president's character… The WSJ is acting like a Democrat SuperPAC. It's disgraceful, and it's why the president sued.'
Indeed, Trump's legal team has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, calling the report 'fake news' and a 'sick fabrication.'
Trump, for his part, has flatly denied ever writing such a letter - or ever writing anything like it.
'This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story,' Trump told the paper in response to the report. 'I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women. It's not my language. It's not my words.'
But Vance's open-ended comments mark a rare public departure from the president, who is known to demand complete loyalty from his political allies, especially in matters concerning the explosive Epstein narrative.
Following Vance's post on X, many chimed in that his stance showed weakness between him and and the president.
One person wrote: 'This is really weak s**t from Vance.'
Another highlighted the irony: 'Lawyers representing the Epstein estate: "We have the birthday book, including Trump's letter" JD Vance two days later: "Nobody even knows if the book exists!"'
A third said: ' Is it me, or is it weird that Vance has 'no idea if the letter exists' (that Trump wrote to Epstein) instead of taking Trump's word for it?'
While a fourth added: 'So you're backtracking now that there's proof it's real? Got it.'
The rift comes at a time of escalating political pressure over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, which have become a lightning rod on the American right.
Supporters of Trump have been demanding the release of classified records, believing Epstein's death was part of a broader conspiracy to shield powerful pedophiles with many suspicious of the president's previous friendship with the disgraced financier.
On Friday, Trump again denied having written anything for Epstein's birthday and reiterated his skepticism when asked if the letter existed at all.
'I don't even know what they're talking about,' Trump said.
'Now, somebody could have written a letter and used my name. That's happened a lot… Everything is fake with the Democrats. Take a look what they just found about the dossiers. Everything is fake. They're a bunch of sick people.'
Despite the denials, the issue continues to dog the White House, as Trump's trip to Scotland was overshadowed by renewed questions about Epstein and his imprisoned associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
'People should really focus on how well the country is doing,' Trump told reporters, brushing off the questions. 'I don't want to talk about that.'
The birthday letter controversy is just the latest flare-up in an increasingly volatile administration battling internal divisions and external conspiracies.
Despite having stacked the Justice Department with loyalists like Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, Trump has found himself boxed in by rising demands for transparency from his own supporters.
Bondi previously suggested on Fox News that she had an Epstein 'client list' on her desk.
Patel, along with Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, has long trafficked in Epstein conspiracy theories, demanding the public exposure of alleged abusers.
But when the Justice Department recently released a letter denying the existence of a client list and declaring the case effectively closed, the backlash was immediate and furious, particularly among Trump's base.
'Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are,' Patel had said in a 2023 podcast- a sentiment still echoed by large swaths of MAGA supporters online.
Now, those same supporters are increasingly doubtful of the administration's willingness to reveal the truth, especially as Trump attempts to shift focus back to his legislative agenda and away from the growing scandal.
Behind the scenes, tensions are said to be boiling over.
According to insiders, a contentious meeting earlier this month between Bondi and Bongino erupted into a shouting match, as the two clashed over how to manage the fallout from the Justice Department's abrupt about-face.
Faced with a restive base and a deeply skeptical media, Trump has once again turned to his favorite fallback: the 'Russia hoax.'
'They have gone absolutely CRAZY,' Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social, 'and are playing another Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax but, this time, under the guise of what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM.'
Trump has also relied on familiar figures to shift the narrative.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who recently appeared to split with Trump on foreign policy, returned to his good graces this week after pushing the release of old intelligence documents from the Russia probe in an apparent attempt to reignite grievances and distract from the present crisis.
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