Jeffrey Epstein panic sparked bizarre brainstorming session in Situation Room, book says
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s top advisers gathered in the White House Situation Room last July to discuss how to tamp down the public outcry over a Justice Department-FBI memo claiming that “no further disclosure” of documents was warranted in the Jeffrey Epstein case.The July 17 meeting featured Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and senior communications officials — with FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi joining remotely, according to the forthcoming book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.The meeting came 11 days after the DOJ memo triggered an intense backlash, including among some prominent Trump supporters, and nine days after the president failed to tamp down interest in the files by scoffing at a cabinet meeting, “Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable.”Vance floated calming the waters by offering former Fox News host Tucker Carlson a jailhouse interview with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to gain her public attestation of Trump’s innocence.The vice president called for full transparency to counter conspiracy theories speculating that Trump partook in Epstein’s predatory behavior with young women and girls during their friendship in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Vance’s arguments reportedly did not sway colleagues — though Blanche, Trump’s former defense attorney, ultimately traveled to Florida to interview Maxwell over two days about the case.The president himself also dropped his opposition to transparency legislation, resulting in the Justice Department’s mass-release of files beginning in December, including some documents containing uncorroborated claims about Trump.Multiple Trump aides denounced a suggestion by White House counsel David Warrington of granting clemency to Maxwell, who is serving a 20...