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Donald Trump has urged Republicans to back a vote to release files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in an abrupt shift after having previously fought attempts to make the documents public.
The US president made the appeal late on Sunday ahead of a vote scheduled for Tuesday in the House of Representatives that looked set to deliver him a damaging blow.
A growing number of Republicans in the lower chamber of Congress have signalled in recent days that they were willing to defy Trump and support releasing the Epstein files, in what would be the most serious revolt from within the president’s party since his return to the White House in January.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we’ve got nothing to hide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
“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’,” he added.
Tuesday’s House vote would compel the justice department to release its documents related to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The president’s struggle to contain the furore over the Epstein files has compounded the pressure he is under over the economy, with polls showing public sentiment souring on his ability to tackle persistently high inflation and broader cost-of-living concerns.
His troubles multiplied last week after Democrats on the House oversight committee published some files, including emails in which Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls” and was “the dog that hasn’t barked”.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting sex with a minor. Documents including his private communications have exposed Epstein’s ties to a host of public figures across the political spectrum.
Trump has said he was friends with Epstein for 15 years, but that they fell out more than two decades ago. He has vehemently denied any involvement in the disgraced financier’s crimes.
The Epstein case has been politically damaging for Trump, opening up a rift with Republican allies on Capitol Hill who had expected all the files to be released during his second term.
In February, US attorney-general Pam Bondi told Fox News the list of the late child sex offender’s clients was “sitting on my desk right now to review”. But five months later the DoJ and FBI concluded there was no “client list” and no “credible evidence” that the convicted paedophile had “blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions”.
Trump’s opposition to the release of the files has in recent days led to a public fight with Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman who was previously one of the president’s staunchest backers and had championed the disclosure of the documents.
“I believe the country deserves transparency on these files. And I don’t believe that rich, powerful people should be protected if they have done anything wrong,” Greene told CNN on Sunday.
Trump has branded Greene a “traitor” and said he no longer endorsed her, opening the door for her to face a strong primary challenge in next year’s midterm elections.
Thomas Massie, a Kentucky House Republican who has clashed with Trump in the past on Epstein, had warned the White House that support among the party for releasing the files was growing rapidly.
“I think we could have a deluge of Republicans. There could be 100 or more. I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote,” he told broadcaster ABC.