JD Vance put deep state claims about Jeffrey Epstein back in public view during a nearly three-hour interview with Joe Rogan. He said Epstein seemed tied to elements of the Israeli deep state and to the highest levels of American intelligence. The comments land after the Justice Department released 3.5 million Epstein files in January 2026.
Joe Rogan and the Mossad claim
Rogan asked, “Well, most people think he [Epstein] was Mossad.” Vance answered, “Yeah, Mossad or CIA or some other deep state, whether in America or Israel or another country.” He also said, “He clearly had connections to the upper levels of American intelligence.”
Vance’s remarks made the interview more than a replay of familiar Epstein accusations. The exchange was public, direct, and unusually blunt for a sitting US vice president. It also put the Epstein case back into a political frame that reaches beyond his criminal history and toward the records now circulating around the files.
January 2026 Epstein files
The Justice Department’s January 2026 release did not explicitly show Epstein was an intelligence asset. It did show extensive email correspondence with Ehud Barak and Yoni Koren. Koren was a regular visitor at Epstein’s New York residence, which gives the file release a concrete contact trail even without a document that directly labels Epstein an asset.
That distinction matters because Vance’s claim rests on inference, not on a document that says Epstein worked for American or foreign intelligence. The files can show contact, correspondence, and proximity. They do not, on the facts released so far, show a direct agency relationship.
Vance, the Justice Department, and the gap
Vance also said the Trump administration “screwed up” communications around the Epstein files. He added, “if that [such a document] existed, it wouldn’t exist in 2026,” while discussing the absence of documents linking Epstein directly to US intelligence agencies or a foreign agency. That leaves the story split between a public allegation and a paper trail that has not produced the direct proof he invoked.
The same tension is what keeps the Epstein files central to public debate. A 2020 FBI memo said one source believed Epstein was a co-opted Mossad agent who had been trained as a spy, but the January 2026 release still stopped short of explicitly identifying him as an intelligence asset. For readers following the case, the practical takeaway is simple: Vance has raised the claim in public, but the released records so far show contact, not proof of agency control.
Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution, and he was found dead in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Those facts keep the case in view, but the newest development is narrower: a sitting US vice president has attached fresh intelligence allegations to a file set that still does not answer the question he raised.
