President Donald Trump reportedly said Monday that he would sign into law a measure forcing the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, casting the political fallout surrounding the issue as a burden borne largely by Democrats.
“Sure I would,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he would approve the legislation. “Let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it.” The president was emphatic that, in his view, the controversy surrounding the files has been driven by political opponents. “It’s really a Democrat problem,” he said. “The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them. And it’s a hoax, the whole thing is a hoax.”
Trump argued that he did not want the renewed attention on Epstein to eclipse what he views as recent wins for his party. “I don’t want to take it away from, really the greatness of what the Republican Party has accomplished over the last period of time,” he said.
The president’s comments marked a notable shift from his earlier stance. On Sunday, he startled Washington by urging House Republicans to release the Epstein files—a reversal that signaled a willingness to move the issue off the political table. “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.
The move comes as the House is poised to vote on a measure advanced through a discharge petition, which would compel the release of the files. The proposal had appeared likely to attract dozens of Republican votes, despite earlier signals of opposition from the president. With momentum building, Trump’s pivot may reflect a strategic effort to keep Republicans unified and blunt Democratic attempts to wield the issue politically.
The legislation has drawn an unusual coalition of supporters ahead of the House vote. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, alongside Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, are scheduled to host Epstein survivors at the Capitol on Tuesday. Their joint appearance underscores the breadth of interest in releasing the documents, even as the parties remain divided over the political implications.
For Trump, framing the controversy as a partisan attack allows him to cast Republicans as transparent and unafraid of scrutiny, while placing responsibility for any political fallout squarely on Democrats. His argument that the issue amounts to a “hoax” reflects his broader tendency to dismiss controversies he sees as politically motivated.
As Congress prepares for a vote, and with the president now signaling support for the legislation, the push to unseal the Epstein files appears increasingly likely to move forward—potentially reshaping the political conversation surrounding the long-running scandal.
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