President Donald Trump has called on House Republicans to vote in favour of releasing the full cache of government files related to Jeffrey Epstein, marking a sharp turn from his earlier reluctance. Posting late Sunday, Trump said his party should support disclosure “because we have nothing to hide,” a statement that comes amid mounting political pressure and a steady stream of document releases by House Democrats.
The renewed attention on Epstein has unsettled Trump’s allies, especially as recently published correspondence has included passing references to him. Trump has long denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes and has portrayed the ongoing focus as an attempt by Democrats to stir controversy where none exists. Still, his shift has opened a rare moment where dozens of Republicans are signaling they may break with party leadership to support a bill compelling the government to publish all remaining Epstein materials.
Supporters of the measure say they now have the numbers for the bill to clear the House this week. Its fate in the Senate remains less certain. Epstein, who was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide in his New York jail cell in 2019—a death that has fueled years of conspiracy theories and calls for full transparency.
In his post, Trump dismissed the latest releases as political theatre and said the Justice Department had already made tens of thousands of pages public. He insisted investigators were scrutinizing the ties of other well-known figures to Epstein and urged Republicans to “get back on point.” House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed that message, saying Democrats were attempting to weaponize the issue but insisted Trump had “clean hands.”
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Trump’s change in tone follows the publication of several emails by Democrats on the Oversight Committee, including exchanges between Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. One email refers to Trump in an offhand way, but there is no allegation of wrongdoing. The White House has said the “victim” mentioned in the message was Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers.
Hours after the Democratic disclosure, House Republicans pushed out a much larger batch of 20,000 files, accusing Democrats of selecting documents to promote a misleading narrative. With bipartisan support now building, as many as 100 Republicans may vote to open the remaining records to public view, potentially ending years of speculation around the case.
