President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course and is urging House Republicans to support legislation that would force the public release of all government-held records tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the investigations surrounding him. The turnaround comes as GOP leaders prepare for a floor vote Tuesday on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
In a Truth Social post, Trump declared, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because 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, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown.’” He echoed similar remarks made earlier in the weekend, insisting that “The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on ‘Epstein,’ are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!”
Trump had spent the past week opposing the push for transparency, at one point calling the effort a “hoax” and suggesting Democrats were seizing on the documents to divert attention from the shutdown dispute. His shift followed mounting pressure from within his own party, as as many as 100 Republicans signaled they were prepared to join a discharge petition led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., that forced the matter onto the floor despite GOP leadership’s resistance.
Trump later told reporters on Monday that he would sign a bill to compel the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein if it passes in Congress. “We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do — all of his friends were Democrats,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. As previously noted, the measure is expected to go to the House floor on Tuesday.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who also previously opposed advancing the bill, has acknowledged “lots of votes” exist for the measure and confirmed the House will vote this week. “There’s nothing to hide,” he said.
The bill, first introduced in July by Khanna and Massie, would mandate the release of a wide range of Epstein-related materials within 30 days, including investigative files, flight manifests, travel records, internal DOJ communications, and any documents describing the destruction or concealment of evidence. It also covers records involving Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking in 2021. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 at a federal jail in Manhattan while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, a death that has fueled enduring suspicion and calls for full disclosure of the government’s records.
The latest news regarding the Epstein filed comes amid renewed scrutiny prompted by the House Oversight Committee’s disclosure last week of more than 20,000 pages from Epstein’s estate. Among the emails was a reference from Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell calling Trump the “dog that hasn’t barked” and claiming he spent hours at Epstein’s residence with one of Epstein’s victims. Trump, however, maintains he ended his relationship with Epstein long before Epstein’s 2008 conviction and has consistently denied involvement in any criminal conduct. Clinton, whom Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate on Friday along with other prominent Democrats mentioned in recent documents, has categorically denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. A Clinton spokesperson said the newly released emails “prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing” and dismissed the broader controversy as political noise.
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