In reversal, Trump says House Republicans should vote to release Epstein files

By KEVIN FREKING and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump reported House Republicans should vote to release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein circumstance a startling reversal after previously fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party supported it Related Articles Trump scraps tariffs on beef coffee tropical fruit in a push to lower grocery store prices At Trump s urging Bondi says US will investigate Epstein s ties to Clinton and other political foes Trump administration repealing protections for key swaths of Alaska petroleum reserve Top Fannie Mae executives ousted after sounding alarm on sharing confidential housing information British billionaire Joe Lewis is pardoned by Trump for insider trading and conspiracy crimes 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 comment 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 aid 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 bureaucrats 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 study into his death in federal prison Information about Epstein s casualties or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted There could be or more votes from Republicans disclosed Rep Thomas Massie R-Ky among the lawmakers discussing the ordinance on Sunday news show appearances I m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this law when it comes up for a vote FILE Rep Thomas Massie R-Ky speaks as FBI Director Kash Patel appears before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington Sept AP Photo Mark Schiefelbein File Massie and Rep Ro Khanna D-Calif introduced a discharge petition in July to force a vote on their bill That is a rarely productive tool that allows a majority of members to go around 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 th member to sign the petition and gain the threshold needed to force a vote She became the th signature moments after taking the oath of office last week Massie stated 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 announced 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 Establishment Restructuring 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 email that Epstein wrote to a journalist that declared Trump knew about the girls The White House has accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the Republican president Johnson reported 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 mentioned Trump s association with Epstein is well-established and the president s name was included in records that his own Justice Department disclosed in February as part of an effort to satisfy population interest in information from the sex-trafficking analysis Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and the mere inclusion of someone s name in files from the analysis does not imply otherwise Epstein who killed himself in jail in while awaiting trial also had several prominent acquaintances in political and celebrity circles besides Trump Khanna voiced more modest expectations on the vote count than Massie Still Khanna announced he was hoping for or more Republicans to join the effort FILE U S Rep Ro Khanna D-CA speaks to the City Club of Cleveland in Cleveland April AP Photo Sue Ogrocki File I don t even know how involved Trump was Khanna explained There are a lot of other people involved who have to be held accountable Khanna also demanded Trump to meet with those who were abused Specific will be at the Capitol on Tuesday for a news conference he declared Massie revealed 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 declared 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 stated he would endorse a challenger against her in if the right person runs Greene attributed the fallout with Trump as unfortunately it has all come down to the Epstein files She noted 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 stated 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 declared 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 reported 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 Associated Press writer Michelle L Price contributed to this review