JD Vance Epstein files
Vice President JD Vance’s push to release the Epstein files followed him to the campaign trail in North Carolina this week. Screenshot: The White House

Vice President JD Vance was midway through a campaign speech in western North Carolina on Monday, 19 October, when a man seated directly behind him rose and shouted for the release of files tied to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The protester yelled 'release the Epstein files' and 'God, bless our children' before security pulled him from the stands at Hyder Warehouse in Hendersonville. As the crowd broke into chants of 'USA', Vance turned, watched the man being led away, and told supporters he had to amend something he had said moments earlier.

'I said that we have had zero illegal border crossings in the United States of America,' Vance said, pausing before he added, 'but one isn't bad, right?'

The line drew laughter and applause. The protester had been holding a North Carolina flag sign when he stood up, and commentators noted he was not white. Several outlets read Vance's response as a suggestion that the heckler was in the country illegally.

Vance then tied the interruption to his opponents. 'We know what the guy yelling at us, behind us stood for,' he said, 'and we know what the far left Democrats like Don Davis stand for.' Davis, the Democratic congressman for North Carolina's 1st District, is the incumbent Republican Laurie Buckhout is trying to unseat in a rematch of their close 2024 contest.

A Familiar Demand Follows Vance on the Trail

The call to publish the Epstein material has trailed the Trump administration for months. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025, and President Donald Trump signed it on 19 November, directing the Justice Department to release investigative records connected to Epstein, with narrow exceptions to shield victims.

The department has since published roughly 3.5 million pages, with a legal challenge over the redactions still before the courts. Vance has cited the law, and emails he says show Epstein disliked Trump, as proof the administration has nothing to hide. Being named in Epstein-related records does not, on its own, point to any wrongdoing.

He has also spoken about the files directly. On The Joe Rogan Experience in July, he conceded that officials had mishandled the rollout, and in a June appearance on ABC's The View, he called himself something of a conspiracy theorist on the question while urging full transparency.

Monday's disruption came a week after a woman in a 'release the Epstein files' shirt was caught up in a confrontation at a Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio on 12 October. Footage showed her being shoved to the ground and struck by attendees before police escorted her out, though local law enforcement said no assault report had been filed in the immediate aftermath.

Read more

Newsom and Khanna Hit Back at the Vice President

The joke travelled fast. The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, mocked the exchange online and signed off with the heckler's own demand in capital letters.

Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who co-wrote the Transparency Act, was sharper. 'This may be hard to believe @JDVance, but many U.S. citizens want to see pedophiles in the Epstein files held accountable,' he wrote on X, faulting the vice president for answering the demand with a jab about immigration.

Why Vance Was in Hendersonville

The rally, organised by the Trump 47 Committee, was built around the 3 November midterm elections. Vance was stumping for Senate candidate Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair, and for House candidate Jennifer Balkcom. Whatley faces former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper for an open, Republican-held seat the Cook Political Report rates as likely to flip to the Democrats, following the retirement of Senator Thom Tillis.

Vance also promised fresh money for a region still recovering from Hurricane Helene, saying the administration would rebuild eight corridors damaged by the storm, including Interstate 40 and the Pigeon River Gorge. He put the figure at $858 million (£649 million), while the US Department of Transportation announced $873 million (£660 million) for North Carolina the same day, part of a wider $1.6 billion emergency relief package.

Trump was due to follow him into the state on Tuesday with a rally in Greenville, part of a late Republican push as polling slips ahead of election day. The heckle, and Vance's response to it, drew more attention online than the funding announcement or the candidates he had come to support.

Read more