Vance suggested Tucker Carlson interview Ghislaine Maxwell amid Epstein fallout, new book reveals

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — Vice President JD Vance suggested last summer that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson should interview Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to clear the president’s name, a new book reveals.

The suggestion from the vice president came during a Situation Room meeting of top administration officials on July 17, 2025, as they grappled with mounting pressure to release files related to the late convicted sex offender, according to an excerpt of the book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” that was published in The New York Times on Wednesday. The book, by reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, is set to be published on June 23.

The book excerpt comes as the Trump administration has faced criticism for its handling of the files and as members of Congress continue interviewing people who appear in the files on the extent of their relationship with the late convicted sex offender. The excerpt also reveals a behind-the-scenes meeting that came even as the administration publicly downplayed the files.

“This is a huge problem,” Vance told those gathered at the meeting, which included then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, chief of staff Susie Wiles, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and communications director Steven Cheung, according to the excerpt. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were on the phone, according to the book.

It was then that Vance suggested the White House approach conservative commentator Carlson to do a sit down interview with Maxwell in prison. He believed that it would help Trump amid calls for transparency within his base and reports of the president’s ties to Epstein if Maxwell was “willing to state” Trump hadn’t participated in Epstein’s wrongdoing, according to the excerpt.

Vance, at the meeting, was also an advocate of voluntarily releasing all the files related to Epstein as soon as possible, according to the book, arguing that the administration should get ahead of Congress potentially forcing the files’ release — which is what eventually came to pass.

Blanche laid out the administration’s options at the meeting. He offered to interview the Epstein associate himself, according to the book.

CNN has reached out to the White House, the Justice Department and The Tucker Carlson Network for comment on the claims in the book excerpt.

A week after the Situation Room meeting recounted in the book, Blanche did interview Maxwell. According to transcripts, which were released later that summer, Maxwell said she never witnessed anything untoward in Trump’s friendship with Epstein and never heard of any allegations that he acted inappropriately.

Maxwell was offered limited immunity during the interview so that she could discuss her criminal case, but the Justice Department did not promise any other benefits in exchange for her testimony, according to the transcript.

The White House counsel brought up the option of pardoning Maxwell or reducing her sentence during the July 17 meeting, the book excerpt says, but several officials expressed “strong disapproval.”

In 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking minor girls for Epstein. A week after the interview with Blanche, she was moved from a Florida prison to a lower-security federal prison camp in Texas.

Trump’s Justice Department, meanwhile, began releasing files related to Epstein in December after months of resistance and after Congress passed a law forcing it to do so. The president’s name is mentioned more than 1,000 times in the documents, which prompted scrutiny over his ties to Epstein.

Among the files was a list of unverified assault allegations against Trump compiled by FBI officials, along with FBI notes about a woman who accused Trump in a lawsuit of raping her when she was 13. The documents also included an FBI interview with one of Epstein’s victims who stated that Maxwell once “presented her” to Trump at a party.

The Justice Department said at the time that the allegations against Trump in the documents were false. The president has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein or any allegation of sexual misconduct. There’s also no public evidence that the allegations against Trump were deemed credible by the FBI.

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