‘We have nothing to hide’: Trump says Epstein files should be released

3 hours ago 2

Washington: US President Donald Trump has reversed course and instructed Republicans to vote in favour of releasing the so-called Epstein files, declaring he has “nothing to hide” and complaining that the issue is distracting from his accomplishments.

However, there is mounting concern that any potential release of the files will be hobbled by new investigations Trump has ordered into dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s links with prominent Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton.

US President Donald Trump returned to Washington late on Sunday night and called on Republicans to vote in favour of releasing the files.

Returning to Washington from his Florida club on Sunday night (Monday AEDT), Trump called on Republicans in the House of Representatives to support a bill that would – if passed by the Senate and signed by the president – compel the documents’ release.

“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 social media.

“Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory.”

Trump lamented that the Epstein issue was distracting from his success in reducing taxes, securing the border, deporting illegal immigrants, “ending men in women’s sports”, bringing down inflation and other matters.

Jeffrey Epstein, in court in 2008, died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Republicans on the House oversight committee, which has received thousands of documents under subpoena from Epstein’s estate, last week released about 20,000 pages of material after Democrats published three select emails that mentioned Trump.

Trump said on Monday (AEDT) that the Justice Department had already produced a lot of material on Epstein and Congress should have access to whatever it was “legally entitled to”.

“I DON’T CARE!” he said. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”

However, those pushing for the files to be released are now concerned that new criminal investigations ordered by Trump into Epstein’s links with Clinton and others will severely limit whatever files Congress is “entitled” to receive from the Department of Justice and the FBI.

Republican congressman Thomas Massie has led the push to release the so-called Epstein files.

“If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released, so this might be a big smokescreen ... as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files,” Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

Massie said he was confident a “deluge” of Republicans – 100 or more – would support the bill to compel the files’ release. “I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation,” he said, referring to the two-thirds majority needed (in both chambers) to override a presidential veto.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also said there was nothing to hide and Democrats were simply playing a political game. “We’re going to dispense with that this week,” he told Fox News.

But the White House had been pressuring Republicans not to support the bill and to remove their names from a petition to force the vote, which is expected as soon as this week. Releasing the Epstein files is an article of faith for many in the Make America Great Again movement.

The issue has contributed to a spectacular falling out between Trump and Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was once among his most vocal and loyal supporters. Greene also broke ranks on other matters, including healthcare.

Trump’s pivot to disclosure came as a group of Epstein’s victims and accusers released an advertisement calling for the files to be released. Annie Farmer, who testified at the trial of Epstein’s associate and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, said the persistent secrecy around the documents caused real angst.

“The people who shielded Epstein have had decades of protection. Survivors have had decades of unanswered questions. Sharing the remaining documents helps correct that imbalance,” Farmer said.

Trump’s Department of Justice and FBI outraged many MAGA supporters when they released a memo in July saying no further disclosures were appropriate or warranted.

The memo said there was no Epstein “client list”, and no credible evidence Epstein blackmailed people. “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the FBI said at the time.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in jail, with day release, as part of a plea deal. He died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted and is serving a 20-year sentence.