'Regime Change' excerpt alleges White House scrambled to contain Epstein fallout

An upcoming book on US President Donald Trump's second term claims that Trump and his senior advisers were deeply concerned about the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files and held multiple meetings to manage the growing controversy.

The book, Regime Change, by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, is scheduled to be released on June 23. Ahead of its publication, Axios reported on an excerpt published in The New York Times Magazine, which offers a behind-the-scenes account of how the Trump administration allegedly handled the issue.

The excerpt claims that senior officials, including Vice President JD Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, held discussions on how to respond to the continuing attention surrounding the Epstein files — a vast collection of more than six million pages of documents, images and gathered during federal investigations into the sex-trafficking operation run by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Trump's name has appeared multiple times in documents related to Epstein, although appearance in the files does not by itself imply wrongdoing.

Vance proposed Maxwell interview

According to the book excerpt, Vance suggested an unusually ambitious public relations strategy. He reportedly proposed enlisting political commentator Tucker Carlson to interview Epstein's long-time associate and convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, in prison.

According to the authors, the idea was that such an interview could benefit Trump if Maxwell publicly stated that Trump had not been involved in any wrongdoing connected to Epstein.

The excerpt also claims that Vance favoured releasing the Epstein-related files quickly, while Trump was reluctant to do so and preferred that the controversy fade from public attention.

According to the authors, some members of Trump's inner circle avoided discussing the issue directly with the President because they feared provoking his anger.

White House concerned about book's revelations

The report further states that the Trump administration has been concerned about details revealed in the forthcoming book.

Axios reported that the authors write: "The Epstein crisis had exposed something that some of Trump's closest advisers spent months refusing to see. The President could break institutions, redirect the federal government against his enemies and bring the world's richest men into the Oval Office bearing tribute. But he could not, it turned out, make Jeffrey Epstein disappear."

The book also alleges that Trump became frustrated with journalists who continued to focus on the Epstein files during meetings and public events.

Trump responds to criticism

The controversy surrounding the book intensified after television host Joe Scarborough said on his programme Morning Joe that Regime Change could become one of the most important books written about Trump.

Less than an hour later, Trump responded on his social media platform Truth Social, writing: "Joe Scarborough's ever-shrinking, low-rated show, one of the most inaccurate purveyors of facts on television, is being crushed in the ratings."

Rejecting the allegations contained in the excerpt, a White House spokesperson told Axios that Trump has done more than anyone else to assist Epstein's victims and dismissed the book's claims.