Trump: Release Epstein Files           11/17 06:22

   President Donald Trump said House Republicans should vote to release the 
files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling reversal after previously 
fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party supported 
it.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said House Republicans should vote 
to release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling reversal after 
previously fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party 
supported it.

   "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," Trump wrote on social media late Sunday after landing 
at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.

   Trump's statement followed a fierce fight within the GOP over the files, 
including an increasingly nasty split with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, 
who had long been one of his fiercest supporters.

   The president's shift is an implicit acknowledgement that supporters of the 
measure have enough votes to pass it the House, although it has an unclear 
future in the Senate.

   It is a rare example of Trump backtracking because of opposition within the 
GOP. In his return to office and in his second term as president, Trump has 
largely consolidated power in the Republican Party.

   "I DON'T CARE!" Trump wrote in his social media post. "All I do care about 
is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT."

   Lawmakers who support the bill have been predicting a big win in the House 
this week with a "deluge of Republicans" voting for it, bucking the GOP 
leadership and the president.

   In his opposition to the proposal, Trump even reached out to two of the 
Republican lawmakers who signed it. One, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, met last 
week with administration officials in the White House Situation Room to discuss 
it.

   The bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and 
communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the 
investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about Epstein's 
victims or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted.

   "There could be 100 or more" votes from Republicans, said Rep. Thomas 
Massie, R-Ky., among the lawmakers discussing the legislation on Sunday news 
show appearances. "I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation 
when it comes up for a vote."

   Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a discharge petition in July 
to force a vote on their bill. That is a rarely successful tool that allows a 
majority of members to bypass House leadership and force a floor vote.

   Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had panned the discharge petition effort and 
sent members home early for their August recess when the GOP's legislative 
agenda was upended in the clamoring for an Epstein vote. Democrats also contend 
the seating of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was stalled to delay her 
becoming the 218th member to sign the petition and gain the threshold needed to 
force a vote. She became the 218th signature moments after taking the oath of 
office last week.

   Massie said Johnson, Trump and others who have been critical of his efforts 
would be "taking a big loss this week."

   "I'm not tired of winning yet, but we are winning," Massie said.

   The view from GOP leadership

   Johnson seems to expect the House will decisively back the Epstein bill.

   "We'll just get this done and move it on. There's nothing to hide," adding 
that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been releasing 
"far more information than the discharge petition, their little gambit."

   The vote comes at a time when new documents are raising fresh questions 
about Epstein and his associates, including a 2019 email that Epstein wrote to 
a journalist that said Trump "knew about the girls." The White House has 
accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the Republican 
president.

   Johnson said Trump "has nothing to hide from this."

   "They're doing this to go after President Trump on this theory that he has 
something to do with it. He does not," Johnson said.

   Trump's association with Epstein is well-established and the president's 
name was included in records that his own Justice Department released in 
February as part of an effort to satisfy public interest in information from 
the sex-trafficking investigation.

   Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and 
the mere inclusion of someone's name in files from the investigation does not 
imply otherwise. Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting 
trial, also had many prominent acquaintances in political and celebrity circles 
besides Trump.

   Khanna voiced more modest expectations on the vote count than Massie. Still, 
Khanna said he was hoping for 40 or more Republicans to join the effort.

   "I don't even know how involved Trump was," Khanna said. "There are a lot of 
other people involved who have to be held accountable."

   Khanna also asked Trump to meet with those who were abused. Some will be at 
the Capitol on Tuesday for a news conference, he said.

   Massie said Republican lawmakers who fear losing Trump's endorsement because 
of how they vote will have a mark on their record, if they vote "no," that 
could hurt their political prospects in the long term.

   "The record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump's presidency," 
Massie said.

   A MAGA split

   On the Republican side, three Republicans joined with Massie in signing the 
discharge petition: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of 
South Carolina and Boebert.

   Trump publicly called it quits with Greene last week and said he would 
endorse a challenger against her in 2026 "if the right person runs."

   Greene attributed the fallout with Trump as "unfortunately, it has all come 
down to the Epstein files." She said the country deserves transparency on the 
issue and that Trump's criticism of her is confusing because the women she has 
talked to say he did nothing wrong.

   "I have no idea what's in the files. I can't even guess. But that is the 
questions everyone is asking, is, why fight this so hard?" Greene said.

   Trump's feud with Greene escalated over the weekend, with Trump sending out 
one last social media post about her while still sitting in his helicopter on 
the White House lawn when he arrived home late Sunday, writing "The fact is, 
nobody cares about this Traitor to our Country!"

   Even if the bill passes the House, there is no guarantee that Senate 
Republicans will go along. Massie said he just hopes Senate Majority Leader 
John Thune, R-S.D., "will do the right thing."

   "The pressure is going to be there if we get a big vote in the House," 
Massie said, who thinks "we could have a deluge of Republicans."

   Massie appeared on ABC's "This Week," Johnson was on "Fox News Sunday," 
Khanna spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" and Greene was interviewed on CNN's 
"State of the Union."