JD Vance Endorses Conspiracy Theories Linking Epstein to Mossad

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

On a lengthy episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Wednesday, Rogan raised a notion that has long circulated on the fringes and increasingly in conservative circles: that Epstein’s money and influence in elite American universities were rooted in links to Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service.

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

Vance didn’t 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.”

That was the vice president of the United States, on one of the world’s most listened-to podcasts, giving oxygen to a theory that U.S. officials and intelligence experts say has never been backed by evidence.

Vance did acknowledge that point himself. He noted that millions of pages of documents released by the U.S. government in connection with Epstein have not revealed proof that Epstein worked as an agent or asset for Mossad or any other intelligence 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. “But if that existed, it wouldn’t exist in 2026.”

The comment underscored the contradiction at the heart of his argument: no proof, but a strong suggestion that the truth is being hidden.

The nearly three-hour conversation roamed across politics, culture and foreign policy. This stretch on Epstein, though, landed like a thunderclap in Washington and within the Republican Party. It signaled how far a sitting vice president was willing to go in echoing a narrative that has long been a staple of conspiratorial media and a flashpoint in debates over antisemitism.

The theory has been promoted by high-profile conservative figures, including Tucker Carlson, a close ally of Vance. It has also drawn repeated accusations that it veers into classic antisemitic tropes about secret Jewish power and shadowy plots.

Former Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican and staunch Israel supporter, did not bother to disguise his anger.

He called Vance’s remarks a “dog whistle” to a segment of the GOP that he described as “antisemitic, is anti-Israel, is conspiratorial and is unhinged.”

“It’s not like you’re a junior congressman,” King 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 vice president’s office did not retreat. Asked for comment, it supplied a statement from an unnamed White House official insisting that everything Vance had said was true and accusing his critics of acting out of “bad faith, stupidity, or both.” Aides declined to elaborate or clarify his comments.

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

Inside the Republican Party, Vance’s latest foray deepened an already uneasy debate over his stance on Israel and antisemitism. Some Republicans have pressed him to speak out more forcefully against antisemitic rhetoric and to adopt a clearer, more robust posture in support of Israel. Instead, his comments on Rogan’s show stoked fresh doubts.

Ben Shapiro, the conservative commentator who is Jewish and an outspoken defender of Israel, said he came away “concerned” after watching the appearance. On his own program, he blasted the vice president’s performance as “unworthy of the office” and at odds 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.”

The backlash spread quickly through Jewish media 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.” Smith wrote that the vice president had “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-world ties to Israel, unlike the theories, are documented but far more prosaic. The financier, who cultivated relationships with politicians, business leaders and royalty across the globe, maintained a yearslong friendship and business relationship with Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister from the center-left.

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

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

Barak has repeatedly denied seeing or participating in any sexual abuse and has publicly expressed remorse over the relationship. “I now deeply regret having any association with him,” he has said.

Those are the facts on the record. No intelligence files, no confirmed covert operations, no documented role for Mossad.

Vance, though, chose to spotlight the gaps and suggest what might lie behind them. From one of the highest offices in the United States, he turned a late-night internet obsession into a talking point of national politics — and left his party, his allies abroad, and his own intelligence community to live with the fallout.