President Donald Trump last week seemed furious over the release of a trove of new documents obtained from the estate of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even launching an unsuccessful campaign to block the release of the full Epstein files. But in a stunning reversal on Sunday, he urged House Republicans to back the bill to make the full files public, as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a sponsor of the legislation, predicted a “deluge” of GOP members would support it.
“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 his Truth Social platform.
The Epstein controversy has exposed cracks within the president’s MAGA movement. His growing rift with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), one of his most loyal supporters who has grown increasingly critical in recent weeks, has raised eyebrows, as the president vowed to support a primary challenge against her, while also calling her a “Traitor to our Country!”
Meanwhile, Trump said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “would like to talk” to the U.S., leaving the door open for discussions with the dictator, as the U.S. military expands its presence near Venezuela with the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships in the Caribbean Sea.
