Trump tells Republicans to vote to release Epstein files, in a reversal of his previous stance

The US president has said he backs US lawmakers efforts to release the files, ahead of an expected House vote this week

Portrait of American financier Jeffrey Epstein (left) and real estate developer Donald Trump as they pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach, Florida, 1997. Picture: Davidoff Studios/Getty Images

US president Donald Trump has urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his earlier resistance to such a move.

Mr Trump’s post on his Truth Social came after House speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he believed a vote on releasing justice department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.

Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because 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, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’” he said.

Although Mr Trump and Mr Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president has said the two men fell out before Mr Epstein’s convictions. Emails released last week by a House committee showed the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, believed Mr Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.

Mr Trump, who has recently dismissed the Epstein files as a Democratic smear campaign, has since instructed the justice department to investigate prominent Democrats’ ties to Mr Epstein.

Some critics have accused Mr Trump of trying to conceal details – something the president denies – by looking to block the vote, which has divided his typically loyal Republican party.

“The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT, which is the Economy, “Affordability”, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

On Sunday Republican congressman Thomas Massie challenged Mr Trump over whether the president was making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on Mr Epstein from becoming public by ordering a fresh investigation.

Mr Massie and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, the two US representatives leading the bipartisan push to make all the files held by the government public both raised concerns about the latest actions by the White House.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Mr Massie criticised Mr Trump for ordering attorney general Pam Bondi on Friday to examine Democrats with ties to Mr Epstein.

Mr Trump late on Friday withdrew his support for US representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, long one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, following her criticism of Republicans on certain issues, including the handling of the Epstein files.

Khanna, an original sponsor of the petition calling for a vote on the files’ release, said on Sunday that he expected more than 40 Republicans to vote in favor.

Republicans hold the majority in the House, with 219 seats, versus 214 for Democrats.

The Guardian with Agence France-Presse