President Donald Trump urged House Republicans to vote for a bill that would release nearly all of the remaining Epstein files held by the Justice Department.
The House will vote sometime this week on the Epstein Files Transparency Act after four Republicans joined all Democrats on a discharge petition forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to bring it to the floor. The bill mandates the full release of the files, with victim protection.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday night, Trump made the surprising call for the GOP to help pass it, saying that “we have nothing to hide.”
“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 said. “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 also entreated them to refocus on the economy and the issue of “affordability,” which has been rushed to the forefront after a bruising defeat for Republicans in the 2025 midyear elections two weeks ago. The president then concluded by warning Republicans not to “fall into the Epstein ‘TRAP,’ which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us.”
Trump’s latest comments on the Epstein saga mark a turnaround in his messaging, particularly from just the end of last week, after thousands of emails were released by the House Oversight Committee.
At the time, Trump did not mention the impending vote and instead dismissed the release of the new files as a “Russia, Russia, Russia Scam with all arrows pointing to the Democrats.”
He later directed the FBI and DOJ to instead investigate disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to leading Democratic figures, including former President Bill Clinton, in response.
None of those emails offered any evidence for Democrats’ claims that Trump and Epstein’s relationship continued after their fallout in the mid-2000s, but they have nonetheless been a thorn in his side after an initial slow-walking of the release by the FBI and DOJ at the beginning of his second term.
MASSIE SAYS TRUMP INVESTIGATING EPSTEIN ‘HOAX’ A ‘LAST-DITCH EFFORT’ TO STOP RELEASE OF FILES
His administration’s handling of the files has consequently led to fractures within the Republican Party, including most recently one of his strongest backers, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
The pair had a public falling out on Friday, with Trump withdrawing his endorsement of Greene and dubbing her “Marjorie Traitor Greene.” The sparring only continued over the weekend, with Greene alleging on Sunday that Trump turned on her because he does not want the Epstein files released.
