Top Trump officials huddled in the Situation Room last summer to manage what they saw as a growing crisis: the Epstein files. According to a forthcoming book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Vice President JD Vance, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and other senior aides gathered in that secure space to debate how to contain the scandal, worried enough about leaks to move their discussions into classified quarters.
The concern ran deep enough that Vance proposed an unusual gambit. He suggested the White House enlist Tucker Carlson to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime girlfriend and co-conspirator, in prison. The idea, according to the excerpt from "Regime Change," was straightforward: if Maxwell would go on record saying Trump had no involvement in wrongdoing with Epstein, it might help the president's position.
Vance also argued the files should be released immediately. Trump, however, wanted the opposite. He pushed to bury the entire Epstein matter and grew irritated with anyone who raised it, forcing his staff to discuss their concerns among themselves rather than risk his anger.
The book, set for publication June 23, portrays a White House deeply fractured over the issue. Swan and Haberman report that relationships at the top of the Justice Department had become "beyond dysfunctional." Dan Bongino, then Trump's deputy FBI director and now a prominent MAGA podcaster, worried the scandal would become "President Trump's Iran-Contra."
Trump's frustration boiled over days before the Wall Street Journal published a scoop linking him to Epstein. He called News Corp. chief executive Robert Thomson, owner Rupert Murdoch, and Journal editor Emma Tucker in an attempt to stop the story. According to the book, Trump told Tucker, who is British, that she must "hate America." Tucker responded publicly: "For the record, I LOVE America!"
The episode revealed something Trump's closest advisers had resisted facing, Haberman and Swan write: "The president could break institutions, redirect the federal government against his enemies and bring the world's richest men into the Oval Office bearing tribute. But he could not, it turned out, make Jeffrey Epstein disappear."
The White House disputed the characterization. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump has been "totally exonerated" on anything relating to Epstein and pointed to his release of documents, cooperation with House oversight, signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calls for investigations into Epstein's connections as evidence he has done more for victims than anyone before him.
The book excerpt, posted in the New York Times Magazine ahead of publication, triggered its own cascade of drama. Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough called it "one of the most important books on the Trump presidency," prompting Trump to post on Truth Social that Scarborough's show was "ever shrinking, low rated" and "one of the most inaccurate detailers of truthful facts on television." Scarborough read the post back on air moments later.
Author James Rodriguez: "The irony is thick: a book about panic over leaked files generates its own leak scandal, then Trump's attempt to contain the narrative creates fresh headlines. He still can't help himself."
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