White House’s New Epstein Scapegoat Is Revealed

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News

4.6 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles unpack a week in which the Jeffrey Epstein saga once again consumed Washington, examining explosive new reporting about panic, leaks, and finger-pointing inside the White House while asking who is really trying to shape the narrative around Donald Trump. Wolff argues that the most revealing detail is not Epstein himself but the apparent effort to cast JD Vance as an outsider to the president’s inner circle, exposing the rivalries and survival instincts driving the administration. Along the way, they explore the fallout surrounding Ghislaine Maxwell, Bill Gates, and other prominent figures pulled back into the Epstein orbit, while also turning to Trump’s startling claim that he “loves the inflation” and what it reveals about the mindset of a president who refuses to acknowledge political threats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Coca-Cola Zero, official partner of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
0:06.0	Coca-Cola has also partnered with Panini to bring fans closer to the tournament.
0:11.0	Selected Coca-Cola bottles will feature exclusive Panini FIFA World Cup 2026 stickers under labels.
0:19.0	Collect 12 exclusive stickers for the dedicated Coca-Cola double-page spread.
0:23.6	Pick up a Coca-Cola zero sugar and start collecting.
0:27.6	Peel, sip, collect.
0:29.6	Blowing our budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them.
0:33.6	That's bullspend, and marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions. I remember telling my boss
0:41.1	it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't.
0:46.4	Cut the bullspend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title and more.
0:51.1	Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend £200 on your first campaign and get a £200
0:55.0	pound credit. Go to LinkedIn.com slash lead. Terms and conditions apply. The interesting thing,
1:01.3	more interesting probably than what it says about Epstein is J.D. Vance, who is really thrown
1:09.8	in front of the bus here.
1:11.2	He's described as panicking.
1:14.2	Every adjective connected to him makes him seem like he is, A, not on the president's side,
1:22.4	and B, that he has no idea what he's doing.
1:26.9	The message that should go back to Donald Trump,
1:30.0	and remember, this is all an audience of one thing, ultimately,
1:34.3	is that J.D. Vance was not on Donald Trump's side here.
1:38.2	The White House is throwing J.D. Vance over the side.
1:42.0	That's what's going on here.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 9 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Daily Beast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Daily Beast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.