Vice President JD Vance offered an opinion on how the Jeffrey Epstein scandal relates to the intelligence community and the world of academic censorship during an appearance this week on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “I will go to my deathbed believing there is a story there, but I’m not able to prove it,” Vance said about Epstein’s connections to the scientific and intelligence establishment. “I guarantee there isn’t some document that I am hiding that would allow us to prove it.” “His death coincides very, very closely… with the end of what you might call the era of censorship in academia,” Vance said. “Back in 2019 and 2020, we reached sort of peak academic censorship, where people wouldn’t publish a medical study because it might have disparate-impact racial undertones, or people were getting fired from academia for not doing land acknowledgments-stuff like that.” “I’m not saying that stuff has completely gone away,” he continued. “But when he died, it’s almost like the era of censorship started to break, because he wasn’t just-he was also plugged into a lot of academia, but also the social media companies.” “But why was he motivated to influence academia? What was the purpose?” Rogan asked. “Most people think he was Mossad.” “Yeah, Mossad or CIA, or some other deep state,” the vice president said. “In America, Israel, another country, or both.” “Look, he clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence,” the vice president of the United States said. “He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence.” “Epstein seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center,” he continued. “I’ve always found that fascinating. It wasn’t like he was super-connected to the right of center of Israeli politics.” “In America, he was connected across the board. He had Republican friends. He had Democratic friends. He had much deeper connections to the Israeli left of center than the right of center. I don’t know what that means.” “I’ve asked: Were there documents connecting Jeffrey Epstein directly to our intelligence agencies or anybody else’s? The answer is no. But if that existed, it wouldn’t exist in 2026,” Vance said.

VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: One of the ways you discredit a conspiracy theory-I’ve thought about this a lot-is to try to hide it. Another way you discredit conspiracy theories is by flooding the zone. One of the things I’ve tried to do when looking at all this stuff is to understand where it fits in and to separate the real from the fake. But one really interesting element of the whole Jeffrey Epstein saga-okay, so he dies in 2019, right? This is at the very end of the first Trump administration. His death coincides very, very closely-this is not my observation; this is a friend’s, but I don’t want to reveal confidences here-it coincides very closely with the end of what you might call the era of censorship in academia. Back in 2019 and 2020, we reached sort of peak academic censorship, where people wouldn’t publish a medical study because it might have disparate-impact racial undertones, or people were getting fired from academia for not doing land acknowledgments-stuff like that. I’m not saying that stuff has completely gone away, but Epstein, we know, was funding a ton of scientists. By the way, where did his money come from? He was funding a ton of scientists. But when he died, it’s almost like the era of censorship started to break, because he wasn’t just-he was also plugged into a lot of academia, but also the social media companies. This is a dude who knew everybody. He knew everybody. JOE ROGAN: So, where did his money come from? JD VANCE: Part of it is suspect tax advice and setting up tax schemes for a lot of very, very rich people, right? JOE ROGAN: But why was he motivated to influence academia? What was the purpose? JD VANCE: I don’t know the answer to that question. I mean, I have theories. JOE ROGAN: Most people think he was Mossad. JD VANCE: Yeah. Mossad or CIA, or some other deep state, whether in America, Israel, another country, or both. Look, he clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence. In fact, one of the interesting things the Epstein saga reveals-and I try to make this point-is one of the reasons why I’m always careful and say there are some elements within the Israeli government who don’t like our peace process, because there are a lot of elements within the Israeli government that actually do like our peace process. They recognize that this indefinite campaign is not good for them either. The Epstein thing is interesting because, as much as I know Prime Minister 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 center. I’ve always found that fascinating. It wasn’t like he was super-connected to the right of center of Israeli politics. In America, he was connected across the board. He had Republican friends. He had Democratic friends. He had much deeper connections to the Israeli left of center than the right of center. I don’t know what that means. JOE ROGAN: He was hanging out with Steve Bannon and Noam Chomsky. JD VANCE: Exactly. Again, in America, he had friends across the political spectrum in a way he didn’t necessarily have in Israel. JOE ROGAN: I had one of my guests try to get me to meet him. JD VANCE: Really? When? JOE ROGAN: 2017. JD VANCE: See, that’s crazy to me, because at that point he’d already gone down for at least one sex-abuse thing. JOE ROGAN: That was my position. [Laughter.] I’ll show you the emails. They’re kind of funny. I actually read them onstage. You people can find it. I don’t want to name the guy. The guy’s already ruined. But I Googled it, and I’m like, What the [expletive] are you talking about? JD VANCE: See, but this goes back to my original point. This is part of what he was doing, right? He wanted to get influential people. But you go back to the original 2007 warrant on Jeffrey Epstein- JOE ROGAN: Uh-huh. JD VANCE: All of the really crazy stuff happened from the ’90s to 2007. That’s when he was at the peak of his power. That’s when he hadn’t yet gone down in a sex-abuse scandal. To your point, even if you have some scumbags who were willing to introduce him to Joe Rogan in 2017, there are a lot of Joe Rogans-or at least some-who are going to say, Wait a second. I’m going to Google this guy and find out that he’s a predator. JOE ROGAN: A lot didn’t. That was really crazy. JD VANCE: A lot didn’t, but some did. My point is that would limit his influence. But if you go back to the 1990s and the early 2000s, that is the stuff I think is the black hole of the Epstein saga. We don’t have nearly enough from that era. JOE ROGAN: And it was destroyed. I think we had a prosecution that explicitly was so narrow that whatever existed would not have even been caught up. JD VANCE: Right. They were specifically going after him for underage sex, and they didn’t look at the full picture of the operation. JOE ROGAN: They didn’t even try to. That was one of the things-the prosecutor was told that he was above their pay grade. It was one of the things that he said. He was told he was intelligence, right? JD VANCE: Yes. I’ve asked: Were there documents connecting Jeffrey Epstein directly to our intelligence agencies or anybody else’s? The answer is no. But if that existed, it wouldn’t exist in 2026.

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