Trump launches ‘massive leak hunt’ after report claims aides held Epstein strategy meeting without him
US President Donald Trump has reportedly launched what CNN described as a “massive leak hunt” inside the White House after an upcoming book alleged that several senior administration officials held a secret meeting about the Jeffrey Epstein files without Trump’s knowledge.
The controversy erupted after The New York Times published an excerpt from Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, an upcoming book.
According to the excerpt, a group of senior Trump officials met in the White House Situation Room on July 17, 2025, just days after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo stating there was no Epstein “client list” and reaffirming that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide.
Who reportedly attended the meeting?
The book claims Vice President JD Vance, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, chief of staff Susie Wiles, communications director Steven Cheung, then-attorney general Pam Bondi, then-deputy attorney general Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel were among those present.
According to Haberman and Swan, the group met to discuss how to reassure Trump’s MAGA base following backlash over the administration’s handling of the Epstein files.
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“Which itself was a problem, because he clearly wasn’t,” the authors wrote while describing concerns inside the administration about Trump appearing unsympathetic to demands for greater transparency.
The report also alleged that Vance proposed arranging an interview between conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and convicted Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. According to the excerpt, the goal would have been for Maxwell to publicly state that Trump was not connected to any alleged Epstein client list or criminal activity.
Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has not been accused of any crimes by law enforcement authorities.
White House leak hunt intensifies
Following publication of the excerpt, CNN reported that Trump had begun aggressively searching for the source behind the leak.
Also Read: Why did JD Vance reportedly want Tucker Carlson to interview Ghislaine Maxwell? Epstein files controversy explained
The Mirror US reported that the revelations triggered internal turmoil inside the administration, particularly because several officials allegedly discussed politically sensitive strategy without informing the president.
The book further claims that Vance “appeared panicked” over the political fallout surrounding the Epstein files, which reportedly caused divisions within Trump’s support base.
Haberman and Swan also wrote that some senior officials believed Vance had embraced conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein and an alleged network of elites protected by powerful figures.