The paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein was connected to the “highest levels” of US and Israeli intelligence, JD Vance said on Monday.
“He clearly had connections to the upper, the highest levels of American intelligence,” the US vice president told podcaster Joe Rogan, in relation to Epstein. “He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence.”
Told by Rogan that “most people think he was Mossad”, Israel's external intelligence agency, Vance replied: “Mossad or CIA or some other deep state, whether in America or Israel or some other country… or both.”
The vice president, who describes himself as “an OG Epstein conspiracy theorist”, said that Epstein’s connections were to “elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of centre”, most notably former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
“It wasn’t like he was super connected to the right of centre of Israeli politics,” Vance said.