President Donald Trump called on House Republicans to vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, insisting he has “nothing to hide” and accusing Democrats of using the case to distract from his administration’s work.
“As I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the Fake News Media, 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,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social Nov. 16.
On Nov. 17, Trump echoed that position, telling reporters, “We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do. All of his friends were Dems.”
Trump said on Truth Social that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has already released thousands of pages of Epstein-related documents and noted that he has also ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate potential ties between the convicted sex offender and several high-profile Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton. As CatholicVote reported, Bondi confirmed Nov. 14 that the DOJ would proceed with the investigation.
“The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!” Trump added to his post. He said Republicans should get “BACK ON POINT” and focus on the economy, inflation, border security, military rebuilding, and “ending Men in Women’s Sports.”
Trump also argued that if the Democrats “had anything,” it would have surfaced before the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s apparent shift in tone comes as Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., on Nov. 12 became the 218th signer on a discharge petition filed by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. The petition compels a floor vote on releasing all remaining files related to Epstein and his death. A House vote is expected Nov. 18. If passed, the measure would move to the Senate and then to the President’s desk.
On Nov. 12, House Democrats also released three emails in which Epstein told his associates that Trump “knew about the girls.” The disclosure fueled speculation about Trump’s past ties to Epstein, though the White House said the emails show Trump has done nothing wrong and dismissed the release as politically motivated.
Massie told ABC News Nov. 16 that he expects 100 or more House Republicans to support the measure to release the Epstein files. But he warned the newly opened DOJ investigations could block the release of certain documents by labeling them as part of an active inquiry.
“If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released,” Massie said. “So this might be a big smokescreen — these investigations — to open a bunch of them as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files.”
The Kentucky lawmaker said that he does not expect the documents to implicate Trump but suggested the President may be trying to “protect a bunch of rich and powerful friends, billionaires, donors to his campaign, friends in his social circles.”
He noted that Epstein survivors have told him that at least 20 individuals — whom he said are “politicians, billionaires, movie producers” — are criminally implicated in the files but have never been investigated.