Donald Trump’s Reversal On Epstein Files Does Not Mean Release Is Inevitable

Donald Trump‘s reversal on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files may have been accepting the inevitable, a House vote this week that otherwise would see rank-and-file GOP break with the president on a vote to compel such a disclosure.

But even if the House vote, expected Tuesday, is overwhelming, that doesn’t mean that the files will be released. The Senate must take up the matter and, if it passes, it will go to Trump’s desk for his signature.

What’s being watched is whether the House support for releasing the files is enough to overcome a presidential veto.

On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social, “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.’”

House Speaker Mike Johnson has been resistant to a House vote, and even delayed the swearing in of a Democrat, Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, until last week. She provided the 218th vote on a discharge petition to bring the Epstein files vote to the House floor. Hours before that, the White House made a last-ditch effort to convince one Republican, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), to take her name off that discharge petition, which would have scuttled the effort.

Trump also called on the Justice Department to investigate Democrats who were named in the trove of Epstein emails released by the House Oversight Committee, and Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly assigned a prosecutor to look into it. But Trump himself is named in the emails more than 1,000 times, per the Miami Herald. An ongoing DOJ investigation also raises the prospect that prosecutors will cite the ongoing probe as a reason to withhold files.

With Trump’s reversal, some lawmakers pressed Trump to order the release of the files without the congressional vote. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote on X, “The vote is to compel YOU to release them. Let’s make this easier. Just release the files now.”

Trump, meanwhile, continued to warn Republicans on the Epstein saga. In the latter part of his Truth Social post, he wrote, “Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory. Some ‘members’ of the Republican Party are being ‘used,’ and we can’t let that happen. Let’s start talking about the Republican Party’s Record Setting Achievements, and not fall into the Epstein ‘TRAP,’ which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us.”

Later, he also again slammed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who supports the release of the files and in recent weeks has been critical of the administration.

He wrote, “Wacky Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown (Remember, Green turns to Brown where there is ROT involved!) is working overtime to try and portray herself as a victim when, in actuality, she is the cause of all of her own problems. The fact is, nobody cares about this Traitor to our Country!”

Trump withdrew his endorsement of Greene on Friday. She has said that she and her family have faced threats and “hoax pizza deliveries.”

She wrote on X, “President Trump’s unwarranted and vicious attacks against me were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals that could lead to serious attacks on me and my family. Unfortunately, I’ve been down this road before. As a matter of fact, as I campaigned all over the country and defended President Trump, I received dozens of swatting calls on my house and my family members homes along with these hoax pizza deliveries, but even more severely I have received some of the most death threats of any Member of Congress that led to multiple men being convicted and serving time in prison.”