WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is pressing House Republicans to vote for releasing the full Epstein files when it comes to the floor this week, marking a reversal from his previous stance to drop the effort altogether.
In a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday night, Trump urged Republicans to back the resolution that would compel the Justice Department to release all materials related to its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The post comes as GOP leaders expect dozens of House Republicans to break ranks and vote in favor of releasing the documents.
“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. “I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
The vote is expected to happen as early as Tuesday after a monthslong effort to force action despite Republican leadership’s opposition. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., filed what is known as a discharge petition in early September that allows rank-and-file lawmakers to force a vote on legislation even without leadership approval so long as they get a majority of the chamber to sign on.
That was accomplished on Wednesday when Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn into office and signed the petition, making her the 218th and final signature needed.
In his post, Trump said Republicans should get it over with and move on — even suggesting the release of the files would be worse for Democrats, who make up the majority of the petition’s signatures, because of who is named in the files.
“If the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory,” Trump wrote. “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.”
But the approval to release the files also follows months of intense pressure from the president targeted toward members of his own party.
In order to be successful, the petition required at least four Republicans to sign on. That was accomplished by Massie as well as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
Trump had tried to convince Boebert to remove her signature by inviting her to the White House last week for a meeting in the Situation Room, according to The New York Times, but the Colorado Republican remained on the petition.
Meanwhile, the president has engaged in an all-out war of words with Greene, who once was one of Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress. Since the effort garnered the required number of signatures, Trump has posted multiple times about Greene, even in one post calling her a “traitor.”
The infighting underscores just how politically toxic the Epstein files have become, especially after Trump spent much of his time on the campaign trail promising to make those documents public but then reversing course to call them a distraction.
Pressure from the Republican base has only grown after documents released from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee last week included an email in which Epstein suggested Trump “knew about the girls,” but never engaged in illicit activity.
A handful of Epstein victims released a public service announcement video over the weekend calling for the full release of the DOJ files, arguing the situation isn’t political but rather a crucial move to ensure justice.
“While we are Epstein and (Ghislaine) Maxwell survivors, we are standing for so many victims of sexual assault and of domestic violence, as well,” Danielle Bensky, one of the survivors, told NBC News on Sunday.
If the resolution passes the House, it will then go to the Senate where it will need bipartisan support to pass. That seems more likely now after Trump publicly called on Republicans to approve it.
After that, Trump will need to sign the resolution for it to take effect.