Donald Trump said House Republicans should vote to release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case. It’s a shocking reversal for the president! He was previously fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party supported it.
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Trump Now Wants The Release Of Jeffrey Epstein Files
President Trump gave his latest take on the Jeffrey Epstein files late Sunday, emphasizing that it’s a “Democrat hoax.” He posted on social media after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.
“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.
More than that, Trump’s switch up is a rare example of the president backtracking because of opposition within the GOP. In his return to office and in his second term as president, Trump has largely consolidated power in the Republican Party.
“I DON’T CARE!” Trump wrote in his social media post. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
Lawmakers who support the bill have been predicting a big win in the House this week with a “deluge of Republicans” voting for it, opposing the GOP leadership and the president. The bill has an unclear future in the Senate.
What’s The Tea On The Bill?
In his opposition to the proposal, Donald Trump even reached out to two of the Republican lawmakers who signed it. One, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, met last week with administration officials in the White House Situation Room to discuss it.
To clarify, the bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Jeffrey 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.
Like Trump, the White House has accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the Republican president. Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. said Donald 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.
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.”
Republican Catches Heat For Supporting Release Of Epstein Files
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., 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. On the Republican side, three Republicans joined with Massie in signing the discharge petition: Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert.
Trump has since gotten into a nasty spat with Greene, who had long been one of his biggest supporters. On Friday, he withdrew his support for her as congresswoman in a Truth Social post dragging her career. In a second post this weekend Trump nicknamed her a “traitor.”
Greene attributed the fallout with Trump as “unfortunately, it has all come down to the Epstein files.” She said the country deserves transparency on the issue and that Trump’s criticism of her is confusing because the women she has talked to say he did nothing wrong.
“I have no idea what’s in the files. I can’t even guess. But that is the questions everyone is asking, is, why fight this so hard?” Greene said.
What Do We Know About Trump & Jeffrey Epstein?
The vote on the bill comes at a time when new documents are raising fresh questions about Epstein and his associates. Last week, a 2019 email that Epstein wrote to a journalist that said Trump “knew about the girls.”
Trump’s association with Epstein is well-established. The president’s name was included in records that his own Justice Department released in February. That release was part of an effort to satisfy public interest in information from the sex-trafficking investigation.
President Donald Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Also, 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.
RELATED: Donald Trump Flip-Flops On Release Of Jeffrey Epstein Files After Suggestive Birthday Letter Between Them Surfaces
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Chris Megerian and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
