US President Donald Trump has called on Congress to release additional files on the late notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his previous opposition to releasing documents.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide,” President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform late Sunday.
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“We have nothing to hide. It’s time to move on from this Democratic hoax perpetrated by radical left-wing lunatics to distract from the great success of the Republican Party.”
Trump’s switch comes as a growing number of Republicans join Democrats in supporting legislation that would require the U.S. Department of Justice to unseal all remaining records related to Epstein.
Democrats and a handful of Republicans reached 218 signatures Wednesday to force a floor vote on a bill that would make the files public within 30 days.
The Epstein File Transparency Act appears poised to pass the House, but its outlook in the Senate remains uncertain.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massey, a co-sponsor of the bill, told ABC News on Sunday that up to 100 Republicans could vote in favor.
The president’s comments also come amid unusually public rifts with some of his political base, including a high-profile rift with Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, once his closest ally.
“The American people deserve full transparency about who was involved in these horrific acts,” Greene wrote on Thursday’s X.
Mr. Trump has since distanced himself from Ms. Greene, saying he would support a challenger to her in next year’s midterm elections “if the right person runs.”
On Friday, he called her a “traitor” and “an abusive lunatic.”
Greene has blamed Epstein’s files for the rift, but Trump has not directly linked their breakup to the issue.
As Republican support for the bill grew, President Trump accused some in his party of being “used” and manipulated.
In recent weeks, President Trump has contacted at least two Republican lawmakers who signed the bill, including Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert.
The bill’s push coincides with last week’s release of emails that reignited scrutiny of Trump’s relationship with Epstein. The documents include a 2019 email Epstein sent to a journalist claiming that Trump “knew the girls.”
In another email sent in 2011, Epstein told ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours” with sex trafficking victims at his home.
The White House accused Democrats of releasing selective material to “create a false narrative” and damage the president.
Trump, who has been friends with Epstein for 15 years, has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly maintained that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
His name appeared in previously released Justice Department records released in an effort to address long-standing demands for transparency in the case.
In July, amid mounting criticism from within his base over the government’s handling of the Epstein investigation, President Trump slammed supporters who questioned the investigation’s transparency.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein hoax, and my past supporters are buying into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line and sinker. They have been fooled by the lunatic leftists for eight long years, and yet they have not learned their lesson and probably never will,” he wrote on Truth Social, urging the FBI to investigate what he called a criminal conspiracy against him.
Around the same time, President Trump told reporters, “I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case is of interest to anyone.”
“It’s pretty boring stuff. It’s sordid but boring. I don’t understand why this keeps happening,” he said.
Mr. Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, had long-standing ties to a number of prominent figures in politics, business and entertainment.
Many of Epstein’s associates remained in close contact with him even after he was convicted of two counts of pimping a minor and was registered as a sex offender in 2008.
President Trump on Friday called on Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s ties to many of his critics, including former President Bill Clinton and former Harvard University president and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
Mr. Clinton and Mr. Summers said they regret their association with Mr. Epstein and were not involved in any criminal activity involving the disgraced financier.
