Vance slams ‘incestuous’ US elites over Epstein files

The newly released records mention figures including Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Bill Clinton in connection with the late sex offender

US Vice President J.D. Vance has said new documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein expose what he described as an “incestuous” culture among America’s political and business elites.

The documents, released by the US Justice Department last week, include previously unpublished records from Epstein’s estate and related investigations. The trove spans more than 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images, renewing scrutiny of his connections to political, business, and tech figures and revealing how he maintained ties with prominent individuals even after his 2008 conviction.

Vance told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that the files expose a “pretty incestuous nature” among America’s elites, calling the revelations “pretty gross.” He singled out figures including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former US President Bill Clinton, and billionaire Bill Gates, saying the disclosures reflected “very poorly on them.”

The documents show Musk discussing plans in 2013 to visit Epstein’s private island, asking about “a good time to visit,” with Epstein offering to send his helicopter. The trip never happened, and Musk said he never traveled to the island.

A separate 2013 email shows Epstein sending himself a document claiming Gates sought help obtaining drugs “in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls.” A spokesperson for Gates dismissed the claim as “absolutely absurd and completely false.”

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Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee in its investigation into Epstein. The ex-president has previously acknowledged flying on Epstein’s private jet in the early 2000s but denied wrongdoing. The couple had initially resisted subpoenas, calling them “invalid and legally unenforceable.” 

Speaking about Trump, whose name appears in the files on at least 3,000 occasions and who has denied being friends with Epstein, Vance said the president “knows a lot of these people” due to his wealth and status but “is very much outside of the social circle” and was not closely involved.

Trump himself has accused Epstein of plotting against him, writing on social media: “I never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.”

Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019, in a death ruled a suicide, which has fueled conspiracy theories, including claims he was killed to prevent the disclosure of compromising material involving prominent figures.