In reversal, Trump says House Republicans should vote to release Epstein
files
[November 17, 2025]
By KEVIN FREKING and CHRIS MEGERIAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said House Republicans should
vote to release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling
reversal after previously fighting the proposal as a growing number of
those in his own party supported it.
“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 statement 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 support 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 officials 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
investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about
Epstein’s victims or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to
be redacted.
“There could be 100 or more” votes from Republicans, said Rep. Thomas
Massie, R-Ky., among the lawmakers discussing the legislation on Sunday
news show appearances. “I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this
legislation when it comes up for a vote.”
Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a discharge petition in
July to force a vote on their bill. That is a rarely successful tool
that allows a majority of members to bypass 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 218th member to sign the petition
and gain the threshold needed to force a vote. She became the 218th
signature moments after taking the oath of office last week.
Massie said 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 said.
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 Government Reform 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 2019 email that Epstein
wrote to a journalist that said Trump “knew about the girls.” The White
House has accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear
the Republican president.
Johnson said Trump “has nothing to hide from this.”
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Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks as FBI Director Kash Patel appears
before the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington,
Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
“They’re doing this to go after President Trump on this theory that
he has something to do with it. He does not,” Johnson said.
Trump's association with Epstein is well-established and the
president's name was included in records that his own Justice
Department released in February as part of an effort to satisfy
public interest in information from the sex-trafficking
investigation.
Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with
Epstein and the mere inclusion of someone’s name in files from the
investigation does not imply otherwise. Epstein, who killed himself
in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, also had many prominent
acquaintances in political and celebrity circles besides Trump.
Khanna voiced more modest expectations on the vote count than
Massie. Still, Khanna said he was hoping for 40 or more Republicans
to join the effort.
“I don't even know how involved Trump was,” Khanna said. “There are
a lot of other people involved who have to be held accountable.”
Khanna also asked Trump to meet with those who were abused. Some
will be at the Capitol on Tuesday for a news conference, he said.
Massie said 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 said.
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 said he
would endorse a challenger against her in 2026 “if the right person
runs.”
Greene attributed the fallout with Trump as “unfortunately, it has
all come down to the Epstein files.” She said 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 said.
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 said 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 said, 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
report.
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