Joe Rogan Suggests Donald Trump Is Using ICE Raids and Fraud Investigations to Distract From Epstein Files Release: ‘Some of That’s on Purpose’

Are Donald Trump and his team trying to distract attention from the fact that the Epstein files haven’t been fully released? Joe Rogan thinks so.

The controversial podcaster suggested as much during the Thursday, January 22, episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” featuring comedian Ehsan Ahmad.

“It’s gonna go on for a long time, I suspect,” Rogan said of all the Epstein-related documents being made public. “I mean they said they released them, but what did they release?”

Ahmad then commented, “With the Somalians and the ICE shooting, it feels like that’s completely drowned out, anything about it,” to which Rogan replied, “I think some of that’s on purpose.”

“Oh, 100 percent,” Ahmad agreed.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released thousands of documents related to their probe into the late s– offender in December 2025, but a full public release has yet to happen.

In a recent court filing, DOJ officials revealed 12,285 documents have been published since the December 19, 2025 deadline under the Epstein Files Transparency Act established by Congress. However, “more than 2 million documents” are still in “various phases of review.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to spotlight an alleged massive welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota. Federal officers were deployed to the state after a right-wing influencer made an unfounded claim that daycare centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had embezzled more than $100 million.

The state has also been in chaos since an ICE agent shot and killed Minneapolis woman Renee Good on January 7. Protests all over Minnesota, as well as across the country, have erupted in the wake of the 37-year-old mother’s death, making headlines and drawing focus away Trump’s ties to Epstein.

Rogan’s remarks come after he condemned the fatal ICE shooting, declaring on the January 13 edition of his show, “It’s very ugly to watch someone shoot a U.S. citizen, especially a woman, in the face.”

Calling it a “terrible tragedy,” he continued, “I’m not that guy. I don’t know what he [the ICE agent] thought. And again, this is a guy who had almost been run over, but it just looked horrific to me.”

“When people say it’s justifiable because the car hit him? It seemed like she was turning the car away,” the commentator admitted.

Rogan went on to say, “You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people, many of which turn out to be U.S. citizens that just don’t have their papers on them.”

“Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” he wondered.