JD Vance tells Joe Rogan that Jeffrey Epstein had ‘connections’ to Israeli intelligence

JTA – United States Vice-President JD Vance claimed that the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had ties to the “highest levels” of Israeli intelligence. 

“He clearly had connections to the upper, the highest levels, of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence,” Vance told Joe Rogan, one of the US’s most popular podcasters, in a three-hour interview released on Wednesday. 

Vance also told Israelis purportedly behind attacks on his efforts to broker a ceasefire with Iran to “go to hell”. 

The remarks from Vance, who described himself as “one of the OG Epstein conspiracy theorists”, marked a notable embrace by a Trump administration official of theories about Epstein’s ties to Israeli intelligence, which have proliferated in the years since his death and often have veered into antisemitism. No evidence supports the claim, and Naftali Bennett, Israel’s former prime minister, last year publicly denied allegations that Epstein worked for Israel or its intelligence agency. 

During the interview, Vance went on to theorise about Epstein’s ties to Israel, particularly his ties to the Israeli political left. Epstein had an association with Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister. Barak, whose politics in recent years have veered to the centre, has denied wrongdoing and said he regrets the relationship. 

“As much as I know, you know, Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, not a particularly popular person in the United States of America right now, Epstein seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of centre,” Vance said. It wasn’t clear what he meant by “deep state”, a catchall frequently deployed by right-wingers peddling conspiracy theories. 

Vance continued that in the United States, Epstein was “connected across the board, he had Republican friends, he had Democratic friends. He had much deeper connections to the Israeli left of centre than right of centre. I don’t know what that means.” 

The interview with Rogan wasn’t the first time that Vance had flirted with conspiracy theories about Epstein. 

“I am frankly kind of a conspiracy theory on the Epstein stuff,” Vance told the hosts of TV show The View last month. “I think that it’s crazy that you have this guy who is clearly a sex predator who is hanging out with a lot of wealthy and powerful people.” 

During the interview with Rogan, Vance also said that there was a “separate conspiracy that hasn’t gotten covered as much”, saying that Epstein was the “tax guy” of Les Wexner, the Jewish billionaire philanthropist whose decades-long relationship with Epstein has shadowed his philanthropic legacy. 

“I think there’s an under-reported, under-explored story of, was Epstein doing a lot of tax stuff that was not on the up and up, and is that one way in which he gained blackmail,” Vance said. “It’s not opposite of the sexual blackmail story, but in some ways you could imagine both things being true.” 

Epstein’s relationship with Wexner has been extensively reported. Wexner, too, has denied wrongdoing and said he cut off relations with Epstein after learning about his misconduct. 

“There’s so much bulls–t out there,” Vance said, referring to a recent report that Israelis are behind a paid campaign to discredit the Iran deal he brokered last month. 

Vance said he didn’t care if Israel or any other country tried to influence outcomes – it’s “the nature of the beast”, he said – but was irked by Americans he claimed were taking Israeli money to oppose the deal. 

“Many of the people who were receiving that money were actually attacking me in completely dishonest ways, you know my response to that is, ‘Go to hell!’. I’m going to do what I have to do for the American people,” he said. “I represent Americans first.” 

Vance’s deal with Iran, which has come under fire for its unprecedented concessions to the country regarding its role in controlling Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz, is in abeyance. President Donald Trump resumed the war against Iran this week.