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Trump: Release Epstein Files 11/17 06:22
President Donald Trump said House Republicans should vote to release the
files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling reversal after previously
fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party supported
it.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said House Republicans should vote
to release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling reversal after
previously fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party
supported it.
"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 on social media late Sunday after landing
at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.
Trump's statement followed a fierce fight within the GOP over the files,
including an increasingly nasty split with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,
who had long been one of his fiercest supporters.
The president's shift is an implicit acknowledgement that supporters of the
measure have enough votes to pass it the House, although it has an unclear
future in the Senate.
It is a rare example of Trump backtracking because of opposition within the
GOP. In his return to office and in his second term as president, Trump has
largely consolidated power in the Republican Party.
"I DON'T CARE!" Trump wrote in his social media post. "All I do care about
is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT."
Lawmakers who support the bill have been predicting a big win in the House
this week with a "deluge of Republicans" voting for it, bucking the GOP
leadership and the president.
In his opposition to the proposal, Trump even reached out to two of the
Republican lawmakers who signed it. One, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, met last
week with administration officials in the White House Situation Room to discuss
it.
The bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and
communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the
investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about Epstein's
victims or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted.
"There could be 100 or more" votes from Republicans, said Rep. Thomas
Massie, R-Ky., among the lawmakers discussing the legislation on Sunday news
show appearances. "I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation
when it comes up for a vote."
Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a discharge petition in July
to force a vote on their bill. That is a rarely successful tool that allows a
majority of members to bypass House leadership and force a floor vote.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had panned the discharge petition effort and
sent members home early for their August recess when the GOP's legislative
agenda was upended in the clamoring for an Epstein vote. Democrats also contend
the seating of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was stalled to delay her
becoming the 218th member to sign the petition and gain the threshold needed to
force a vote. She became the 218th signature moments after taking the oath of
office last week.
Massie said Johnson, Trump and others who have been critical of his efforts
would be "taking a big loss this week."
"I'm not tired of winning yet, but we are winning," Massie said.
The view from GOP leadership
Johnson seems to expect the House will decisively back the Epstein bill.
"We'll just get this done and move it on. There's nothing to hide," adding
that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been releasing
"far more information than the discharge petition, their little gambit."
The vote comes at a time when new documents are raising fresh questions
about Epstein and his associates, including a 2019 email that Epstein wrote to
a journalist that said Trump "knew about the girls." The White House has
accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the Republican
president.
Johnson said Trump "has nothing to hide from this."
"They're doing this to go after President Trump on this theory that he has
something to do with it. He does not," Johnson said.
Trump's association with Epstein is well-established and the president's
name was included in records that his own Justice Department released in
February as part of an effort to satisfy public interest in information from
the sex-trafficking investigation.
Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and
the mere inclusion of someone's name in files from the investigation does not
imply otherwise. Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting
trial, also had many prominent acquaintances in political and celebrity circles
besides Trump.
Khanna voiced more modest expectations on the vote count than Massie. Still,
Khanna said he was hoping for 40 or more Republicans to join the effort.
"I don't even know how involved Trump was," Khanna said. "There are a lot of
other people involved who have to be held accountable."
Khanna also asked Trump to meet with those who were abused. Some will be at
the Capitol on Tuesday for a news conference, he said.
Massie said Republican lawmakers who fear losing Trump's endorsement because
of how they vote will have a mark on their record, if they vote "no," that
could hurt their political prospects in the long term.
"The record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump's presidency,"
Massie said.
A MAGA split
On the Republican side, three Republicans joined with Massie in signing the
discharge petition: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of
South Carolina and Boebert.
Trump publicly called it quits with Greene last week and said he would
endorse a challenger against her in 2026 "if the right person runs."
Greene attributed the fallout with Trump as "unfortunately, it has all come
down to the Epstein files." She said the country deserves transparency on the
issue and that Trump's criticism of her is confusing because the women she has
talked to say he did nothing wrong.
"I have no idea what's in the files. I can't even guess. But that is the
questions everyone is asking, is, why fight this so hard?" Greene said.
Trump's feud with Greene escalated over the weekend, with Trump sending out
one last social media post about her while still sitting in his helicopter on
the White House lawn when he arrived home late Sunday, writing "The fact is,
nobody cares about this Traitor to our Country!"
Even if the bill passes the House, there is no guarantee that Senate
Republicans will go along. Massie said he just hopes Senate Majority Leader
John Thune, R-S.D., "will do the right thing."
"The pressure is going to be there if we get a big vote in the House,"
Massie said, who thinks "we could have a deluge of Republicans."
Massie appeared on ABC's "This Week," Johnson was on "Fox News Sunday,"
Khanna spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" and Greene was interviewed on CNN's
"State of the Union."
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