The Trump administration’s latest effort to contain the political fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein case unraveled on Wednesday after news leaked that Vice President JD Vance planned to host a strategy dinner at his official residence. Multiple media outlets reported that the gathering, set for the evening of Aug. 6, would bring together Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss the administration’s response to mounting public pressure over unreleased Epstein files. By late Wednesday, a source told Reuters the dinner had been called off once its existence became public, and a spokesman for Vance insisted no such meeting had ever been scheduled. The cancellation underscores divisions inside the administration over how to address demands for greater transparency after the Justice Department said last month that a widely rumored “Epstein client list” does not exist. During an unrelated Oval Office appearance the same day, President Donald Trump dismissed the controversy as “a hoax” and “total bull----,” accusing Democrats of using the issue to distract from his record. The remarks came as the White House weighs whether to release an audio recording and transcript of Blanche’s recent interview with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was transferred in July to a minimum-security federal facility in Texas. The aborted dinner and the president’s combative comments highlight the administration’s struggle to craft a unified message on a scandal that, according to recent polling, has eroded public support for Trump six months into his second term.