JD Vance Supports Epstein-Israel Conspiracy Theory

US Vice President JD Vance has thrown his weight behind one of the right’s most charged conspiracy theories, openly entertaining the idea that Jeffrey Epstein had ties to the “highest levels” of Israeli intelligence.

He did it not in an offhand remark, but over nearly three hours on one of the most influential platforms in American media: “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

On the episode released Wednesday, Rogan raised a theory that has long circulated on the fringes and increasingly in parts of the conservative mainstream — that Epstein’s money and his efforts to shape thinking at elite American universities were backed by Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service.

“Most people think he was Mossad,” Rogan said.

Vance did not push back. He leaned in.

“Yeah, Mossad or CIA, or some other deep state, whether in America or Israel or another country,” he replied, before going further. “He clearly had connections to the upper — the highest — levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence.”

Those words, reported by The New York Times, instantly pushed a long-simmering online narrative into the heart of American power, stamped with the authority of the vice president.

Vance did acknowledge that hard evidence is missing. Millions of pages of government files related to Epstein have been released, and none has shown that he worked as an intelligence agent or asset for Mossad or any other service.

“I’ve asked, were there like, were there documents connecting Jeffrey Epstein directly to our intelligence agencies or anybody else’s, and the answer is no,” Vance said. Then he added a twist that fed the conspiratorial mood: “But if that existed, it wouldn’t exist in 2026.”

The appearance showcased Vance’s willingness to echo themes popular with parts of the conservative base — and to do so from a position where his words carry diplomatic and national security weight. The episode roamed across a wide range of topics, but his comments on Epstein and Israel stood out as a sharp escalation.

They also landed in the middle of a fraught internal Republican debate about antisemitism, loyalty to Israel and the party’s comfort with conspiracy thinking.

Some of Vance’s fellow Republicans moved quickly to distance themselves.

Former Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican and staunch Israel supporter, said Vance’s remarks amounted to a signal to the party’s most extreme elements.

He called them a “dog whistle” to a wing of the GOP that he described as “antisemitic, is anti-Israel, is conspiratorial and is unhinged.”

King stressed the stakes of Vance’s office.

“It’s not like you’re a junior congressman,” he said in an interview Saturday. “You’re the vice president of the United States. Unless you know what you’re talking about, unless you have absolute facts to back it up, before you undermine an ally — before you undermine your own intelligence agencies — you better know what you’re talking about.”

The backlash did not prompt any retreat from Vance’s team. Asked for comment, his office sent out a statement attributed to an unnamed White House official insisting that everything the vice president had said was accurate. Anyone suggesting otherwise, the statement said, was acting out of “bad faith, stupidity, or both.” Aides declined to elaborate on Vance’s specific claims.

From Israel, there was silence. The prime minister’s office — which oversees Mossad — did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Vance’s comments. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously rejected the idea that Epstein worked for Israel.

The political pressure on Vance comes from inside his own coalition as well. Some Republicans have been urging him to take a tougher public stance against antisemitism and to show clearer, more traditional support for Israel. His latest remarks have only deepened their unease.

Ben Shapiro, a prominent conservative commentator who is Jewish and a strong backer of Israel, said Vance’s performance on Rogan’s show left him “concerned.” On his own program, Shapiro said the vice president’s commentary was “unworthy of the office” and clashed with basic conservative principles.

“Conservatives, generally, are not in favor of baseless conspiracy theorizing,” Shapiro said, “because that undermines the idea that you have capacity in the world to act.”

Jewish media reacted sharply as well. Tablet, an online publication focused on Jewish news and culture, ran a column by journalist Lee Smith under the headline “JD Vance’s Big Crashout.” The piece accused Vance of having “attacked Jews and spread baseless rumors, for which he admits to having zero evidence, about some kind of dark plot involving Jeffrey Epstein.”

Epstein’s real, documented ties to Israel sit in a narrower, if still unsettling, space.

The disgraced financier, who moved in elite circles around the world, maintained a yearslong friendship and business relationship with Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister from the center-left. Vance seized on that connection during the podcast.

“Epstein seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center,” he told Rogan. “I’ve always found that fascinating.”

Barak has said that Shimon Peres, another former Israeli prime minister, introduced him to Epstein in 2002. Barak attended lunches and dinners at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. He also received about $2.3 million in payments from a foundation linked to Epstein, and Epstein reportedly invested $1 million in a limited partnership Barak set up in 2015.

Barak has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes.

“I now deeply regret having any association with him,” he has said, while insisting he did not witness or participate in sexual abuse.

Those facts have fueled years of speculation. What Vance has done is something different: he has taken that speculation and, from the vice president’s chair, wrapped it in the language of intelligence plots and “deep state” intrigue on both sides of the Atlantic — even as he concedes there is no documentary proof.

For a segment of the Republican base, that mix of suggestion and certainty is part of the appeal. For traditional conservatives, national security veterans and pro-Israel Republicans, it is something else entirely: a test of how far their party’s leadership is willing to go down the rabbit hole.