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 Republican Jennifer Balkcom in North Carolina’s competitive 11th Congressional District race two weeks before the midterm elections, according to WLOS.
The FactPost video shows Vance, one hand on the podium, turning around to face the man as he yelled.
“…a protester directly behind Vance gets up and yells ‘release the Epstein files!’” independent journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X.
“Vance suggest[s] he’s an illegal immigrant,” Rupar added 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 by Snopes.
“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 rallygoers at a Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, before police removed her. No arrests were made because deputies didn’t see the beating and the woman chose not to file a report, NBC News reported.
Trump is scheduled to rally Tuesday in Greenville, North Carolina, and Wednesday in Clemson, South Carolina, according to WBTV.