US President Donald Trump has called on House Republicans to vote in favor of releasing Epstein’s files, in a reversal of his previous stance.
“House Republicans should vote to release Epstein’s files, because we have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night.
The biggest shift in Trump’s stance comes as potentially dozens of Republicans signaled they were willing to break ranks and vote in favor of releasing the documents.
The House is expected to vote this week on legislation that would force the Justice Department to make the records public. Supporters of the bill appear to have enough votes for it to pass the House, although it is unclear whether it will pass the Senate.
Trump would also have to approve the release of the documents if it is approved by both chambers.
Both Democrats and some Republicans have supported the legislation. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that up to 100 Republicans could vote for it.
Known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the goal of the bill is to have the justice department release all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump released the statement shortly after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.
“The Justice Department has already released tens of thousands of pages about ‘Epstein’ to the public, is looking into several Democratic operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship with Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have everything they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!” Trump wrote, adding that he wanted Republicans to “GET BACK TO THE POINT.”
Trump’s reference to Clinton comes after the US Department of Justice confirmed it will investigate pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged ties to major banks and several prominent Democrats, including former US President Bill Clinton.
Trump said he would ask Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others.
Clinton has steadfastly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said the firm regrets “any association” it had with Epstein, adding that the firm “did not help him commit his heinous acts.”
Trump’s reversal comes after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee last week released three email exchanges, including correspondence between Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
Some of those exchanges make references to Trump. In an email, sent in 2011, Epstein writes to Maxwell: “I want you to realize that the dog that hasn’t barked is Trump… [VICTIM] I spent hours at home with him.”
Hours after those exchanges were released, House Republicans released a much larger batch of 20,000 files to counter what they said was a Democratic effort to “cherry-pick” documents. They also said it was an attempt to “create a false narrative to defame President Trump.”
The House then announced that it would vote next week on much broader disclosure of Epstein’s material.
In his comments Sunday night, Trump repeated that the White House dismissed the Epstein files as a Democratic-led “hoax.” Their release came after House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested in comments to Fox News that a vote on releasing the documents would end allegations that Trump had some connection to Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of teenage children.
Trump and Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, traditionally one of his fiercest supporters, have been fighting publicly over the files.
On Friday, Trump called Greene “crazy” in social media posts and said she should be unseated in next year’s election. On Saturday he called her a “traitor.”
Greene, in turn, questioned whether Trump still put “America first” and criticized his handling of the Epstein files.
In a letter to Congress, Epstein’s survivors and the family of Virginia Giuffre – a prominent Epstein accuser – asked US lawmakers to vote in favor of releasing the files.
“Remember that your primary duty is to your constituents. Look into the eyes of your children, your sisters, your mothers and your aunts,” the letter says.
“Imagine if they had been attacked. Imagine if you were a survivor yourself. What would you want for them? What would you want for yourself? When you vote, we will remember your decision at the polls.”
