JD Vance's Controversial Remarks on Epstein and Israeli Intelligence
US Vice President JD Vance has stepped squarely into one of the darkest, most radioactive corners of American political debate, publicly entertaining claims that Jeffrey Epstein had links to “the highest levels” of Israeli intelligence.
The remarks came during a sprawling, nearly three-hour appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” where Rogan raised a theory that has long circulated on the conspiratorial fringes of the right.
“There was a widespread perception,” Rogan said, that Epstein’s money and influence in American academia were tied to Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service. Rogan then put it bluntly: “Most people think he was Mossad.”
Vance didn’t push back. He leaned in.
“Yeah, Mossad or CIA, or some other deep state, whether in America or Israel or another country,” the vice president replied, before going further. Epstein, he said, “clearly had connections to the upper — the highest — levels of American intelligence,” and “clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence.”
Those words, from one of the most powerful elected officials in the United States, instantly jolted a debate that had simmered mostly on podcasts, fringe outlets, and the more conspiratorial corners of social media.
Vance did acknowledge on air that hard proof is missing. Millions of government files related to Epstein have been released, and none have established that he was an asset or agent for Mossad or any other intelligence service.
“I’ve asked, were there like, were there documents connecting Jeffrey Epstein directly to our intelligence agencies or anybody else’s, and the answer is no,” Vance said. Then he added a darker twist: “But if that existed, it wouldn’t exist in 2026.”
The suggestion was unmistakable — that any incriminating evidence would have been erased.
The episode marked one of the clearest embraces of conspiracy-laced narratives by a sitting vice president in modern memory, and it landed in a Republican Party already torn over its stance on Israel, antisemitism, and the boundaries of acceptable rhetoric.
Some on the right have been pushing Vance to show a firmer hand against antisemitism and a more emphatic public backing of Israel. Instead, his comments deepened unease.
Former Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican and staunch Israel supporter, blasted the remarks as a “dog whistle” to a fringe within the GOP that he described as “antisemitic, is anti-Israel, is conspiratorial and is unhinged.”
“It’s not like you’re a junior congressman,” King said in an interview. “You’re the vice president of the United States. Unless you know what you’re talking about, unless you have absolute facts to back it up, before you undermine an ally — before you undermine your own intelligence agencies — you better know what you’re talking about.”
Vance’s office did nothing to dial down the controversy. Asked for comment, his team released a statement from an unnamed White House official insisting that everything Vance had said was true and dismissing any challenge as “in bad faith, stupidity, or both.” Aides declined to clarify or soften his podcast remarks.
In Israel, the prime minister’s office — which oversees Mossad — did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously rejected the idea that Epstein worked for Israel.
Conservative commentators who typically align with Vance on many issues also bristled. Ben Shapiro, the influential right-wing podcaster who is Jewish and an outspoken defender of Israel, said in a newsletter that Vance’s appearance left him “concerned.”
On his show, Shapiro went further, calling the vice president’s comments “unworthy of the office” and warning that they cut against a core conservative instinct.
“Conservatives, generally, are not in favor of baseless conspiracy theorizing,” he said, “because that undermines the idea that you have capacity in the world to act.”
The backlash spread into Jewish media as well. Tablet, an online publication focused on Jewish news and culture, ran a sharply worded column by journalist Lee Smith under the headline “JD Vance’s Big Crashout.” The piece accused Vance of having “attacked Jews and spread baseless rumors, for which he admits to having zero evidence, about some kind of dark plot involving Jeffrey Epstein.”
At the center of the controversy sits a man whose life and death have spawned endless speculation.
Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, built a network of powerful contacts around the world, including politicians, business leaders, and former heads of state. Among them was Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister from the center-left, with whom Epstein had a yearslong friendship and business relationship.
“Epstein seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center,” Vance told Rogan. “I’ve always found that fascinating.”
Barak has said he met Epstein through Shimon Peres in 2002. He has acknowledged attending lunches and dinners at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and receiving about $2.3 million from a foundation linked to Epstein. Epstein also reportedly invested $1 million in a limited partnership Barak set up in 2015.
Barak has consistently denied any involvement in or knowledge of sexual abuse. “I now deeply regret having any association with him,” he has said.
Those facts — the money, the meetings, the proximity to power — have fueled years of suspicion and rumor. Vance has now taken those whispers and given them the weight of his office, even as he concedes there is no documentary evidence tying Epstein to American or Israeli intelligence.
For Republicans already wrestling with how to police the line between skepticism of institutions and outright conspiracism, the vice president’s words pose a blunt question: when that line is crossed from the top, who, if anyone, is going to pull it back?
