WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump threw his support over the weekend behind a House vote slated for today to release the federal government’s remaining records on dead sex predator Jeffrey Epstein in a sudden reversal from weeks of dismissing the matter as a “dead issue” meant to distract the public from his job record.
“As I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the Fake News Media, 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,’” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social. “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!”
“All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT, which is the Economy, ‘Affordability’ (where we are winning BIG!), our Victory on reducing Inflation from the highest level in History to practically nothing, bringing down prices for the American People, delivering Historic Tax Cuts, gaining Trillions of Dollars of Investment into America (A RECORD!), the rebuilding of our Military, securing our Border, deporting Criminal Illegal Aliens, ending Men in Women’s Sports, stopping Transgender for Everyone, and so much more!” Trump continued. “Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory. Some ‘members’ of the Republican Party are being ‘used,’ and we can’t let that happen. 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. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The reversal follows months of clashing with libertarian U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has led the charge for a vote to force the release of the remaining documents. Trump previously argued that the documents his administration released months earlier were more than sufficient and that the continued pressure to release more was a “SCAM” and “Democrat CON JOB.”
The president’s latest comments appear to be a concession that the fervor isn’t going away on its own. Last week, a discharge petition to force release of the remaining documents, which had been opposed by House GOP leadership, secured the required 218 supporters from all 214 House Democrats plus Massie and Republican Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Even if the petition advances through the House, however, the process still has a long way to go before the records would have to be released. “I’m very confident that when this moves forward in the process, if and when it is processed in the Senate — which is no certainty that that will be — that they will take the time methodically to do what we have not been allowed to do in the House: to amend this discharge position, and to make sure these protections are there,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told The Wall Street Journal.
In any event, the vote is unlikely to quell the interest in the case that has persisted ever since Epstein killed himself in his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in August 2019 while being held on charges of trafficking underaged girls to be raped by himself and wealthy associates in a high-profile case that was suspected could also implicate many prominent figures around the world.
The case has long been a source of concern due to the mysteries surrounding the billionaire financier’s private Caribbean retreat (dubbed “Pedophile Island” by locals), Epstein’s close association with major public figures such as Bill Clinton, Trump, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates; and the botched past prosecutions and lax punishment for his previous crimes. Epstein’s death ended any possibility of him naming any public figures who may have taken part in his crimes, sparking impassioned speculation online.
Many hoped that Trump’s election would bring with it new disclosures (egged on by MAGA personalities such as future Vice President JD Vance), but instead the issue has become a political headache for the administration. The White House elicited a backlash in February when several prominent MAGA influencers were invited for exclusive first access to what was billed as “The Epstein Files: Phase 1,” but turned out to largely consist of old, already-public material.
After months of dueling and contradictory statements from administration officials about who was in possession of what and the state of the review, in July the DOJ and FBI released a joint memo declaring the review complete, affirming Epstein killed himself after all, declining to release previously sealed material, and most controversially announcing, “This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’ There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
Discontent swelled to outrage on social media, for reasons ranging from fear that there remain unidentified offenders evading justice, to suspicion that powerful figures still had enough influence to maintain a cover-up, to simple belief that influencers had gotten audiences’ hopes up by over-promising dramatic twists that reality was never going to match.
The Trump administration agreed in August to share more Epstein documents with the House Oversight Committee, which released a batch of materials in September and another this month. The most noteworthy revelations to come out of them so far were a risque birthday letter to Epstein signed by Trump (which Trump denied authorship of), and texts detailing how former Trump strategist and populist podcaster Steve Bannon advised Epstein on how to defend himself in the media. But no conclusive evidence has yet been found implicating previously unknown figures in Epstein’s crimes.
