JD Vance accuses Israel of secret plot against him and drops Mossad-Epstein bombshell in explosive Joe Rogan interview

By PHILLIP NIETO, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 21:07, 15 July 2026 | Updated: 21:19, 15 July 2026 JD Vance has claimed he's the target of an Israeli-funded propaganda campaign over his Iran peace push, and that Jeffrey Epstein had ties to the 'highest levels' of Mossad. The Vice President made the explosive allegations during a nearly three-hour sit-down with podcaster Joe Rogan.  Vance pointed to a Time magazine report he said proved American influencers were being paid to attack the Iran deal. The report notes that money has flowed through a former Trump campaign operative and is bankrolled by elements of the Israeli government. 'My response to that is, well, go to hell,' Vance said of those taking the cash to smear him. Vance, who complained he has been branded an anti-Semite, declared that Israel is losing the public opinion battle in America.  He also said that 'figures' inside the Israeli government are manipulating American public opinion to keep the war going 'indefinitely.'  Vance then shifted to the administration handling of the Epstein scandal, revealing that the disgraced financier 'clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence' and 'Israeli intelligence.' When Rogan noted that most people believe Epstein was working for Mossad, Vance did not dispute it. Vance noted that it was Mossad 'or CIA or some other deep state, whether in America or Israel or another country or both.' Vance, who described himself as a 'conspiracy theorist' on Epstein, said that anything tying Epstein to spy agencies was likely destroyed after 2006 - when the financier was first arrested. JD Vance says he's the target of an Israeli-funded influence campaign over his Iran peace push, and that Jeffrey Epstein was tied to the 'highest levels' of Mossad Vance told Joe Rogan that Epstein 'clearly had connections to the upper the highest levels of American intelligence' and 'Israeli intelligence' Vance, who complained he has been branded an anti-Semite, declared that Israel is losing the public opinion battle in America 'What I have seen...is that there just wasn't dispositive evidence. And if that dispositive evidence ever existed, it was probably destroyed after 2006, 2007,' Vance told Rogan.  On Epstein, the vice president agreed with Rogan that the financier was running an operation to pressure or compromise powerful people. 'I will go to my deathbed believing there's a story there,' Vance said, though he admitted he cannot prove it. 'And I promise you there’s not some document, at least that I’m hiding, that allows us to prove exactly what was going on and how.' He conceded the administration 'absolutely screwed up' its handling of the files.  Vance pinned much of the botched Epstein files rollout on Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying she 'overstated what we had' when she claimed Epstein's client list was sitting on her desk. 'I think we should have just dropped everything at the very beginning and, like I was saying, it takes a little time to review the stuff, to find the stuff, to redact things where you have victims and so forth, but we should have just done it as quickly as possible,' he told Rogan. Vance then floated his own theory that Epstein gained leverage over billionaires by crafting shady tax schemes for men like his original patron Les Wexner.  Les Wesner is a billionare who had longstanding ties with Epstein Vance conceded the administration 'absolutely screwed up' its handling of the files Wexner, the Victoria's Secret billionaire and once Ohio's richest man, was Epstein's first major client and handed him sweeping control of his personal fortune.   Vance said he found it fascinating that Epstein was plugged into the left-of-center faction of the Israeli deep state rather than its right wing, admitting: 'I don't know what that means.' He noted that in America, by contrast, the financier cultivated friends across the entire political spectrum from Republicans to Democrats.