Vance says Epstein had connections to US, Israeli intelligence

The US vice president says Epstein ‘seemed’ to be connected to elements of the ‘Israeli deep state’.

United States Vice President JD Vance says the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had unspecified connections to Israeli intelligence.

In a lengthy interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, released on Wednesday, Vance was asked about theories that Epstein may have had ties to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

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“He clearly had connections to the upper, the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence,” he said.

The vice president also claimed that Epstein’s connections in Israel appeared to have a left-of-centre ideological bent.

“Epstein seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of centre. I’ve always found that fascinating. It wasn’t like he was super connected to the right of centre of Israeli politics,” he said.

This March 28, 2017 photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry, shows Jeffrey Epstein [File: New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP]

During the interview, Vance also conceded that the Trump administration “absolutely” mishandled the communications surrounding the Epstein files.

Vance focused mostly on former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had stated that an alleged client list belonging to Epstein was “sitting on my desk right now”.

Under Bondi, who Trump fired in April, the Justice Department had also offered conservative commentators and influencers binders that were called “The Epstein files: Phase 1″ and “Declassified”.

“I know Pam. I like Pam. I don’t think there was anything malicious going on,” Vance told Rogan. “I think Pam was trying to respond to the political moment. I think she overstated what we had and what we didn’t have.”

Vance said Bondi was publicly “roasted” for her comments and led people to “mistrust” the administration’s transparency efforts on the Epstein files.

“We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. Like, we just did,” he said. “But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.”