J.D. Vance's Secret Epstein Strategy Exposed — Veep Wanted Tucker Carlson to Interview Ghislaine Maxwell to 'Clear' Trump's Name

A top battle for the Trump administration circles around the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files – and Vice President J.D. Vance allegedly devised a plan.

The files' release came with brutal scrutiny for President Donald Trump, whose name shows up more than 38,000 times across the documents. Now, Vance reportedly wanted to rope Tucker Carlson into the PR plans to smooth over the debacle, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

In an excerpt of the book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, published in The New York Times, authors Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan alleged Vance suggested the Fox News host should interview Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

He hoped the interview could get the pressure off of Trump and clear up his reputation if she was "willing to state" he wasn't involved.

Vance, 41, allegedly made the suggestion on July 17, 2025, during a meeting in the Situation Room with some top members of the administration, calling the fiasco "a huge problem."

Attendees of the meeting allegedly included then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, chief of staff Susie Wiles, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and communications director Steven Cheung.

Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were said to be on the phone for the conversation.

The pair was at the center of the public fallout as they allegedly blamed each other for the files' slow and messy release.

Trump, 79, campaigned on a promise to release the Epstein files, which exposed the financier's lengthier s-- trafficking scheme. In the early days of his administration, he recruited social media stars to support his claim that the documents were available and ready for publishing.

However, when that didn't happen fast enough, he found himself facing mounting public pressure. Bondi, 60, who led the Department of Justice at the time, claimed that the documents were sitting on her desk.

Further, she pointed to the FBI, led by Patel, 46, as the issue in the release speed. In a February 2025 letter, she wrote to him, "I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein. Despite my repeated requests, the FBI never disclosed the existence of these files."

After releasing a portion of documents, Bondi, who recently advocated against Maxwell's release, later rolled back the Epstein files pursuit, suggesting there wasn't much to tell.

In a July 2025 memo, around the time of the alleged all in the Situation Room, the United States Department of Justice claimed there was "no incriminating 'client list,'" adding, "There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties."

The memo said, "We have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein and ensured examination of any evidence in the government’s possession, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."

Congress wasn't quite so convinced, though, ordering through legislation the release of 3.5 million pages of documents in November 2025.

Vance was allegedly forward-thinking about that potential outcome. During the July meeting, he hoped to get ahead of the curve, suggesting the administration voluntarily drop the files rather than wait for a force from Congress.

The DOJ missed the deadline for the release, and later faced backlash for their handling of redactions. They were accused of redacting names and details to protect potential perpetrators while leaving in identifying details of victims.