A protester standing directly behind Vice President JD Vance confronted him at a North Carolina rally, shouting, “Release the Epstein files!”
Vance was speaking Monday when the man stood up in the crowd behind the stage, according to a video FactPost shared on X.
Trump 47 Committee Inc., a political action committee aligned with President Donald Trump, hosted the event at Hyder Warehouse in Hendersonville, WBTV reported.
Vance was there to boost Republicans in a competitive western North Carolina congressional race two weeks before the midterm elections, according to a Yahoo News report.
“…a protester directly behind Vance gets up and yells ‘release the Epstein files!’” independent journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X.
The FactPost video shows Vance, one hand on the podium, turning around to face the man as he yelled.
“Vance suggest[s] he’s an illegal immigrant,” Rupar wrote in the same post.
The Justice Department has released millions of files from its investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but critics allege it made redactions to hide information, according to a fact-check published on Yahoo News.
“I am frankly kind of a conspiracy theorist on the Epstein stuff,” Vance told ABC’s “The View” in June, according to The National News Desk.
The Hendersonville confrontation came a week after a woman wearing a “release the Epstein files” shirt was attacked by several men at a Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, before police removed her, according to a report published on Yahoo News.
Trump is scheduled to rally Tuesday in Greenville, North Carolina, and Wednesday in Clemson, South Carolina, according to the Yahoo News report on Vance’s visit.
