Secret Situation Room Meetings Reveal White House Split Over Epstein Files

Clear Facts

• President Trump and his team held multiple Situation Room meetings to address the Jeffrey Epstein controversy, contradicting public dismissals of the issue
• Vice President JD Vance warned early that detailed allegations would surface and urged preemptive transparency
• Internal polling showed the Epstein files ranked as the sixth most important issue among focus groups, behind inflation and foreign policy but ahead of crime

A forthcoming book by New York Times correspondents Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reveals that President Donald Trump and his administration were far more concerned about the Jeffrey Epstein controversy than their public statements suggested. The book, “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,” draws on three years of reporting and an hour-long interview with the president in March.

While Trump and White House officials repeatedly characterized the controversy as old news, they convened multiple crisis management sessions in the Situation Room. The president’s friendship with the late sex offender, which ended years ago, became a persistent challenge for the administration.

In initial meetings, Vice President JD Vance argued forcefully for transparency. He predicted that Congress would eventually force release of the complete Epstein files regardless of White House strategy. Some administration officials accused Vance of being “panicked” and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reportedly called him a conspiracy theorist.

Events proved the vice president correct in his assessment.

One meeting addressed whether Trump should pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice currently serving 20 years for sex trafficking of a minor. Maxwell has defended Trump publicly.

“Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge P.R. problem,” Communications Director Steven Cheung warned.

The president posted on social media that he had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek release of grand jury testimony, citing “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein.” Such releases are rarely approved by courts.

At a session last summer, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, who had demanded file releases as a podcaster before joining the administration, confronted Bondi directly. According to the book, he shouted at the attorney general.

“You f—– this thing up from the start,” he declared. “The way you’ve been talking about this — that dumb f—— charade with the Epstein files, the ‘They’re on my desk’ nonsense, all the promises to the folks out there.”

Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel told a White House official that Bondi needed to resign. At a subsequent meeting with Wiles intended to resolve tensions, Bongino accused the White House of ignoring his warnings and stormed out of the Situation Room.

Bongino resigned in December and returned to podcasting, where he had previously earned millions. Trump fired Bondi in April.

The president also criticized conservative activist Charlie Kirk for allowing one of his events to become a “grievance fest” over the Epstein files. Kirk was murdered in September.

One allegation receiving media attention appears almost certainly false, given the accuser’s lack of credibility. The claim comes second-hand from a woman who previously made sexual abuse allegations and later retracted them. This individual, named by the Times, claimed in an email that she knew a second woman who made specific allegations about Trump. Officials described these internal discussions as “surreal.”

By last summer, President Trump began calling the Epstein matter a “SCAM” and a “hoax” by Democrats. He attacked some pro-release members of his own party as “weaklings” and later helped remove them in primary elections.

His public position remained that the controversy was a nuisance, even as private frustrations mounted.

Part of the internal debate centered on whether average voters cared about the issue. Internal polling data provided the answer: A memo from Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, showed “Epstein files” ranked as the sixth most important issue in focus groups. The matter scored behind concerns like inflation and foreign policy but ahead of issues including crime and military readiness.

What Trump appeared to underestimate was how deeply his MAGA base cared about transparency on this issue. Something about the controversy struck a nerve with core supporters. Even conservative media figures like Megyn Kelly criticized the president for not releasing all available documents.

Trump aides debated creating a public website for the files, but acting Attorney General Todd Blanche pointed out a critical obstacle: the files included illegal content that could never be made public.

The controversy returned to headlines this week when Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates testified before Congress. According to reports, Gates admitted showing poor judgment in associating with Epstein but claimed no knowledge of his crimes. Gates reportedly said Epstein pressured him after discovering marital infidelity. Gates and his wife are now divorced.

The publication of this book will undoubtedly reignite debate over how the administration handled the controversy and whether greater transparency from the start would have better served the American people.

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