Trump is now urging Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the Epstein papers

WashingtonUntil now, Donald Trump had kept his congressional allies on a tight leash. The president's calls and meetings with members of Congress who were facing a deadlock on a vote, in order to get it passed, are well known. The Big Beautiful Bill was finally approved thanks to Trump's ability to rally lawmakers. Now it seems the reins are starting to slip from his grasp: in an attempt to mask the loss of control over Trump's ranks in Congress, and contrary to what he had previously stated, the US president has asked lawmakers to vote in favor of releasing Jeffrey Epstein's documents.

"House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide and it's time to put this Democratic hoax behind us, perpetrated by radical left-wing lunatics to distract from the Republican Party's great success," wrote the Republican Party's great success. The House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday on releasing the Epstein case documents, and in recent days dozens of Republican congressmen have already said they would vote in favor despite Trump's initial opposition.

The vote was scheduled after Democrats last week released a series of emails between Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. in which the pedophile said that Trump had spent "hours" with one of the victims and implied that he also had knowledge of the child trafficking scheme. In response, Republicans released more than 20,000 documents containing other communications from Epstein that mentioned other Democratic figures, such as former President Bill Clinton and his former Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers. Taking advantage of the situation, Trump announced that he was urging the Justice Department to open an investigation into their links to Epstein, In an attempt to turn the scandal against his political enemies, Trump had again accused Democrats of fabricating "fake news" and "stuff" about him to deflect attention from the government shutdown. The White House also closed ranks with the president and denied any information. While the president tried to maintain the fragile dam to contain the political scandal, he had been pressuring dissenting members of Congress for days who wanted to release the documents related to Epstein, who committed suicide in 2019 before the trial. Trump had even met personally with some of these legislators and staged public clashes with others, such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whom he openly called a "traitor" and a "shameless" person. The Georgia representative had built her political brand as one of the president's most fervent and loyal supporters, but since Trump entered the Oval Office, she has become one of the dissenting voices in Congress. Taylor Greene has been one of the people who have advocated for the release of the Epstein case documents, although she has also contradicted the president on other foreign policy issues.

Trump's post came just hours after several media outlets reported that Republicans will vote Tuesday in the House to force the release of all documents related to Epstein, the financier who committed suicide in 2019, following the revelations last week. of emails in which he mentions Trump. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the initiative's sponsor, had assured ABC News in an interview that he was confident he had enough support among his fellow Republicans—around 100—to overcome the president's veto power, which would also require securing the support of Democrats to reach a two-thirds majority. Trump, who had been a friend of Epstein and later promised during his campaign to release all the files on the case concerning his sex crimes, such as soliciting minors for prostitution, stated: "The Justice Department has already released tens of thousands of pages to the public regarding Epstein." "Several Democrats [Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.] and their relationship with Epstein are being examined, and the congressional oversight committee can access everything it is legally entitled to," he noted.