President Trump announced Sunday evening that House Republicans should vote to release files related to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, marking a sharp reversal from his previous position on the matter.
Trump made the declaration on Truth Social, saying Republicans have “nothing to hide” and it’s “time to move on” from what he called a “Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics.”
The president framed the issue as a distraction from Republican achievements, stating the focus on Epstein files is designed “to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.”
A discharge petition forcing a House vote on the release of additional Epstein files received its final signature on Wednesday. The petition would compel the Justice Department to release all remaining documents related to the case.
The House is expected to vote this week on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The legislation was authored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).
The discharge petition garnered signatures from all House Democrats. On the Republican side, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) also signed.
Trump had previously expressed displeasure with the Republican representatives who signed the petition, according to the New York Post. On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee released over 20,000 pages of documents provided by Epstein’s estate. The release came just days before Trump’s latest statement on the issue.
Trump said Friday he would direct the Department of Justice and FBI to investigate Epstein’s connections to several prominent figures, Resist the Mainstream reported. Those named included Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, and financial institutions J.P. Morgan and Chase.
The president stated the investigation should “determine what was going on with them, and him.”
In his Sunday post, Trump emphasized his lack of concern about the Epstein matter itself. “I DON’T CARE!” he wrote, adding that his priority is getting “Republicans BACK ON POINT.”
Trump accused Democrats of using the Epstein issue as political ammunition. He claimed that if Democrats had damaging information, they would have released it before the election.
“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,” Trump wrote.
The president warned that some Republican Party members are “being ‘used'” and said such manipulation cannot be allowed to continue.
Trump characterized the Epstein matter as a “TRAP” and “actually a curse on the Democrats, not us.” He concluded his statement by calling on Republicans to focus on the party’s “Record Setting Achievements.”
The president ended his post with his signature rallying cry: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Democrats suggested last week Trump secretly spent Thanksgiving 2017 with Epstein, however, the posts were subsequently deleted after being disproven.
Democrats also claimed Trump “spent hours” with one of Epstein’s victims and “knew about the girls.” The victim, redacted in the Democrats’ release, was the late Virginia Giuffre, who consistently maintained that Trump had no involvement in her abuse.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed the allegations as unfounded. “These emails prove literally nothing,” she said.
“Liberal outlets are desperately trying to use this Democrat distraction to talk about anything other than Democrats getting utterly defeated by President Trump in the shutdown fight. We won’t be distracted, and the entire Administration will continue fulfilling the promises the President was elected on, including Making America Affordable Again.”
