Fact Check: Did JD Vance plan Epstein strategy meeting with Pam Bondi, Kash Patel amid fallout reports?

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance and the Donald Trump camps are hitting back after reports claimed a hush-hush dinner party was held at the VP's DC residence to discuss how the administration plans to handle the Jeffrey Epstein debacle.

Fox News reported that Vance was set to host a “strategy dinner” on the night of August 6 with Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The venue would be the 12-acre vice presidential estate in Northwest DC.

According to Fox’s sources, the group was supposed to talk about fallout from the ever-lingering Epstein scandal and how to “move forward.” But when the press got wind of it, things took a turn.

Claim: JD Vance was set to host a 'strategy dinner' with Pam Bondi and Kash Patel

The dinner was reported just as pressure has been piling on Donald Trump’s Department of Justice to cough up more intel from the Epstein probe. The story just won’t die, and Trump’s own supporters have been some of the loudest voices demanding transparency.

Things got messier after an unsigned DOJ memo dated July 7 essentially stated there were no more details to publish. That hasn’t exactly helped the White House or DOJ keep their stories straight. Now, there’s even drama over an interview Todd Blanche reportedly had with Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

According to Fox News, the DOJ has both the audio and transcript from Blanche’s two-day sit-down with Maxwell, which took place at the Attorney’s Office in Tallahassee, Florida, just down the road from where Maxwell was locked up for her 20-year s*x trafficking conviction. The White House and DOJ are apparently now wrestling over whether to release the goods or keep them in the vault.

It’s worth noting that Maxwell was mysteriously transferred last week to a cushier, minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas. No public explanation was offered.  

Pam Bondi has “stressed in public on multiple occasions” that if anything is released, it will be heavily redacted to protect victim identities.

Meanwhile, the family of Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre is furious.

“We understand that Vice President JD Vance will hold a strategy session this evening at his residence with administration officials,” Giuffre’s sibling said in a statement to Fox News.

“Missing from this group is, of course, any survivor of the vicious crimes of convicted perjurer and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Their voices must be heard, above all. We reiterate that Ghislaine Maxwell should have remained in a maximum-security prison and does not deserve the luxuries currently afforded her.”

Fact Check: Trump and JD Vance brush off meeting reports as 'fake news'

When Donald Trump and JD Vance were asked directly about the strategy dinner on August 6, shortly after the president unveiled a $100 billion Apple investment plan, both denied the claims.

"I don't know. I could ask you that question," Trump told reporters, glancing at Vance. "I don't know of it, but here's the man right here."

Vance chimed in, "I saw it reported today, and it's completely fake news. We're not meeting to talk about the Epstein situation, and I think the reporter who reported it needs to get better sources."

Trump added: "Look, the whole thing is a hoax. It's put out by the Democrats because we've had the most successful six months in the history of our country, and it's a way of trying to divert attention to something that's total bulls**t."

JD Vance's Epstein strategy meeting scrapped or shifted?

CNN later reported that the meeting was still happening, just not at the originally planned location. Sources told the network that officials, including Pam Bondi and JD Vance, were spotted leaving the White House on the night of August 6. 

Apparently, administration insiders began scrambling after CNN’s initial report. Plans were changed, shifted, or possibly canceled altogether.

One source reportedly told CNN that participants were informed the meeting was being moved and canceled “at various points throughout the day.”

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