President Donald Trump is coming to grips with his impending loss on the Jeffrey Epstein files and a rare moment of tenuous control over the House GOP.
In a late Sunday Truth Social post, Trump said House Republicans should vote to release DOJ records on the late convicted sex offender “because we have nothing to hide.”
“I DON’T CARE!” he said. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
Trump’s reversal after a months-long pressure campaign came as dozens of Republicans — perhaps as many as 100 — were already poised to break with him in a vote Tuesday. Even close allies of GOP leadership were weighing whether to defect from the president.
“I’m a big full disclosure person,” said House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx, a trusted member in Speaker Mike Johnson’s inner circle, who declined to say how she would vote. “I have nothing to hide, and I assume nobody else does, either.”
Ahead of Trump’s U-turn, Hill Republicans had grown increasingly wary of his fixation on the issue, according to five people granted anonymity to describe internal GOP conversations. Evidence has not linked Trump to wrongdoing in the Epstein case, and the president has maintained that he and the financier had a falling out years ago.
Trump’s edict is just about the House, two White House officials tell POLITICO. It amounts to a face-saving move ahead of a vote he was going to lose, and at this point it’s still likely the matter dies in the Senate.
One senior Republican marveled at Trump’s “erratic” and unsettling attempt last week to kill the effort, including pulling Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) into the White House Situation Room. That preceded a dramatic break over the weekend when he withdrew his endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Georgia Republican told CNN Sunday that the animosity between her and Trump “has all come down to the Epstein files.”
“I have no idea what’s in the files. I can’t even guess,” Greene said. “But that is the question everyone is asking is why fight this so hard?”
Part of Trump’s obsession over the House vote is Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has decisively outmaneuvered the president with the disclosure push. Massie, whom Trump is trying to oust in next year’s primary, said in an interview that the Epstein vote reflects how Republicans are looking ahead to a post-Trump world.
“They need to look past 2028 and wonder if they want this on their record for the rest of their political career,” he said.
Once the House passes the bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats are expected to launch a blitz to pressure Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring it to the floor. Democrats may also look at upcoming appropriations bills to try to force an Epstein vote.
What else we’re watching:
— Health care talks: House committee chairs will begin listening sessions this week with GOP members on the fate of soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies. It will likely be a big topic of conversation at Tuesday’s conference meeting.
— Undoing the Senate: The House on Wednesday is fast-tracking a vote to repeal the politically toxic records seizure payout provision that Thune secured in the deal to reopen the government.
Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
