Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly defended her team’s work.
In his testimony before Congress, Bondi suggested that the Obama administration refused to respond to the Epstein sex trafficking scandal.
After Joe Rogan’s name was discovered in one of the latest releases of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Epstein files, the podcaster came on his show to explain why his name appeared.
On the Tuesday, February 10 episode featuring Cheryl Hines, wife of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Logan said her name was in the “didn’t go” file.
“Jeffrey Epstein was trying to meet me,” Logan said. “And I was like, what? There was no way I was even going to go, especially after I Googled him.”
Logan said the incident happened about nine years ago in 2017.
“I was like, ‘What[expletive]are you saying?'” he continued. “It was like 2017. One of the guests was trying to get me to meet him. I was like, ‘Are you (expletive) high? Or what are you talking about (expletive)?’
What happened to Logan’s name in the Epstein files?
The Hill reported that Logan’s name appeared in an email Epstein sent to theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss after Krauss appeared on Logan’s podcast in September 2017.
In it, Mr. Epstein asked Mr. Krauss to set up a meeting with Mr. Logan, but in a subsequent email, the theoretical physicist told Mr. Epstein that he had not heard back from the podcaster. Logan said on a Feb. 10 podcast that he would not have met Epstein because he is not “the kind of guy who preys on the rich and powerful.”
“Some people get intoxicated by being part of a circle of rich and powerful people, even if they have no ambition to be one of those people. They just want to be around them,” Rogan said on a Feb. 10 podcast.
Logan blasts Epstein file edits
In the final stages of the 2024 election, Logan interviewed then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. After the interview and hours before Election Day, Logan continued to support Trump, saying Elon Musk provided a “compelling rationale” for voting for Trump.
But in recent months, Mr. Rogan has criticized Mr. Trump numerous times, and on February 10, the podcaster went so far as to criticize the Justice Department’s editing of the Epstein file.
“It seems awful that President Trump was saying none of this is true, this is all a hoax. This is not a hoax. Like, didn’t he know? If he wants to be charitable, he may not have known, but this is definitely not a hoax,” Rogan said. “And if you redact people’s names and they’re not victims, you’re not protecting victims. So what are you doing?”
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact us at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow us at X @fern_cerv_.
