US President Donald Trump has called on House Republicans to vote to release the Epstein files, in a reversal from his previous position.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night.
The shift from days of Trump fighting the proposal comes as the House is expected to hold a vote this week on legislation that would force the Justice Department to release the files to the public.
Supporters of the proposal appear to have enough votes to pass the House, though it is unclear whether it would pass the Senate.
Democrats and some Republicans have been pushing a measure that would force the US justice department to make public more documents from the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein case.
The major shift in Trump’s position comes as potentially dozens of Republicans were willing to break ranks in the vote.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that as many as 100 Republicans could vote in favour.
Known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the aim of the bill is to make the justice department release all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump posted the statement shortly after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.
“The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on “Epstein,” are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!,” Trump wrote, adding that he wanted Republicans to get “BACK ON POINT”.
Trump’s reference to Clinton comes after the US justice department confirmed it will investigate paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged links to major banks and several prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton.
Trump said he would ask Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others.
Clinton has strongly denied he had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said the firm regrets “any association” they had with Epstein, and added that the firm “did not help him commit his heinous acts”.
Last week, thousands of Epstein’s emails were released by the US Congress – with the files including mentions of the US president. Democrats have accused Trump of trying to deflect from questions about his relationship with Epstein.
A review by the Wall Street Journal found that Trump was mentioned in more than 1,600 of the 2,324 email threads.
By BBC News
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