Donald Trump has reversed course and said the Republican Party should release the files pertaining to the late billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump, who has previously called all attempts from both parties to release the files part of a Democrat hoax, gave the bill his blessing on Truth Social Sunday evening.
‘We have nothing to hide, and it´s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,’ Trump wrote on social media shortly after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.
Trump noted that his Department of Justice have already turned over tens of thousands of pages on Epstein and could potentially investigate Democrat enemies like Bill Clinton, Larry Summers and Reid Hoffman.
He wrote: ‘The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!’
Trump then listed his signature issues on the economy, immigration, foreign policy and culture war issues instead of discussing Epstein.
‘Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory,’ he said.
However, Trump did not signal an end to his feud with Republican backers of the bill like Thomas Massie and, most publicly, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Donald Trump has reversed course and said the Republican Party should release the files pertaining to the late billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein
Trump, who has previously called all attempts from both parties to release the files part of a Democrat hoax, gave the bill his blessing on Truth Social Sunday evening
‘Some ‘members’ of the Republican Party are being ‘used,’ and we can’t let that happen. Let’s start talking about the Republican Party’s Record Setting Achievements, and not fall into the Epstein ‘TRAP,’ which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’
Trump then took another shot at Greene, continuing their weekend-long feud over the Georgia Congresswoman’s recent split from Trump on various issues.
‘Wacky Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown (Remember, Green turns to Brown where there is ROT involved!) is working overtime to try and portray herself as a victim when, in actuality, she is the cause of all of her own problems. The fact is, nobody cares about this Traitor to our Country!’
Democrats and some Republicans have been pushing a measure that would force the Justice Department to make public more documents from the case.
The president´s shift is an implicit acknowledgement that supporters of the measure have enough votes to pass the House, although it has an unclear future in the Senate.
The bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison.
Information about Epstein´s victims or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted.
‘There could be 100 or more’ votes from Republicans, said Massie, among the lawmakers discussing the legislation on Sunday news show appearances.
‘I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote.’
Massie and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, introduced a discharge petition in July to force a vote on their bill.
That is a rarely successful tool that allows a majority of members to bypass House leadership and force a floor vote.
Speaker Mike Johnson had panned the discharge petition effort and sent members home early for their August recess when the GOP’s legislative agenda was upended in the clamoring for an Epstein vote.
Democrats also contend the seating of newly-elected Adelita Grijalva was stalled to delay her becoming the 218th member to sign the petition and gain the threshold needed to force a vote.
She became the 218th signature moments after taking the oath of office last week.
Massie said Johnson, Trump and others who have been critical of his efforts would be ‘taking a big loss this week.’
‘I’m not tired of winning yet, but we are winning,’ Massie said.
Johnson seems to expect the House will decisively back the Epstein bill.
‘We´ll just get this done and move it on. There´s nothing to hide,’ adding that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been releasing ‘far more information than the discharge petition, their little gambit.’
The vote comes at a time when new documents are raising fresh questions about Epstein and his associates, including a 2019 email that Epstein wrote to a journalist that said Trump ‘knew about the girls.’
The White House has accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the Republican president.
Johnson said Trump ‘has nothing to hide from this.’
‘They´re doing this to go after President Trump on this theory that he has something to do with it. He does not,’ Johnson said.
Trump’s association with Epstein is well-established and the president’s name was included in records that his own Justice Department released in February as part of an effort to satisfy public interest in information from the sex-trafficking investigation .
Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and the mere inclusion of someone´s name in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise.
Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, also had many prominent acquaintances in political and celebrity circles besides Trump.
