Vice President JD Vance led a series of Situation Room meetings in the summer of 2025 to manage the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files, according to a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The Times published the account on June 10, 2026, as an excerpt from Regime Change.
On June 11, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, asked Chairman James Comer to call Vance and other officials to testify. The committee has not responded.
Who Was in the Room
The Situation Room is the White House’s secure facility for national security emergencies. According to the Times reporting, the meetings held there last summer were about a political scandal involving the president.
The book describes Vance presiding, joined by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Counsel David Warrington, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel. The meetings followed the Wall Street Journal’s July 17, 2025 report on a 50th-birthday letter bearing Trump’s signature in Epstein’s birthday book.
The Strategies They Discussed
The damage-control options on the table were specific, according to the Times account. They included having a friendly television host interview Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s imprisoned associate, so she could say Trump was not involved.
The book reports the group also weighed having Justice Department lawyers question Maxwell publicly and release the transcript, and discussed a possible pardon for her. Wiles drafted a public denial that Trump later posted to social media. Trump separately pressed News Corp leadership to stop the Journal’s story, then sued the paper and Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion. A judge dismissed that suit in April 2026, and Trump refiled it in May.
The Files the Same White House Controlled
The meetings matter because the same administration decided what the public would see. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and Trump signed it on November 19, 2025, with a 30-day deadline to release the records.
The DOJ missed that deadline by 40 days and ultimately released 3.5 million pages of the more than 6 million it reviewed. NPR later found the department had removed and withheld documents tied to abuse accusations that named Trump, despite a provision in the law barring withholding for reputational harm.
The department’s own inspector general opened an audit in April 2026 of how the DOJ identified, redacted, and withheld the records. That audit is ongoing.
The Committee Already Did This Once
The House Oversight Committee has the power to compel testimony, and it has used it on this exact subject. In March 2026 it voted 24 to 19, with Republican support, to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein files.
Under House rules, the committee chairman can issue a subpoena on his own, without another vote. Garcia’s request names nine officials, including Vance, Wiles, and Patel. Whether any are compelled is Comer’s decision.
What the White House Says
The administration disputes the framing. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump has been “completely cleared” of any association with Epstein and noted he signed the transparency law.
FBI Director Patel called the reporting “slander and falsehoods.” Trump has called the birthday letter “fake, malicious, and defamatory.” Bondi has said nothing in the files warranted further investigation.
What You Can Do
- Write your representative and demand they publicly call on the Oversight Committee to subpoena Vice President Vance and the officials named in Garcia’s request. Use our letter and call script below. The committee already subpoenaed Bondi 24-19, so the precedent and the power both exist.
- Contact the House Oversight Committee at (202) 225-5074 and ask whether Chairman Comer will use his subpoena authority for Vance, as he did for Bondi, or explain why not.
- Demand the withheld files. Ask your members to press the DOJ to release the documents NPR found were removed, including the FBI interview notes tied to abuse accusations. The transparency law bars withholding for reputational harm.
- Read the reporting and share it. The New York Times account lays out what was discussed and who was in the room.
Sources
- New York Times: Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files
- New York Times: Takeaways on the White House Panic Over the Epstein Files
- The Hill: Garcia Urges Comer to Call Vance and White House Officials for Questioning
- Washington Examiner: Oversight Democrats Seek Interviews With White House Officials
- CNN: House Oversight Votes 24-19 to Subpoena Bondi Over Epstein Files
- BBC: Takeaways From the Millions of Newly Released Epstein Files
- NPR: DOJ Removed and Withheld Epstein Files Related to Accusations Naming Trump
- CNN: Trump Refiles $10 Billion Lawsuit Against the Wall Street Journal