In short:
(ABC-Australia) Donald Trump says Republicans should vote to release unclassified documents linked to a sex trafficking probe into the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It is a startling reversal, with Mr. Trump previously fighting the proposal.
What’s next?
Members of the US Congress will vote this week on whether to release the Epstein files.
US President Donald Trump has called on his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“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.”
Members of the US Congress will this week vote on whether to publish unclassified documents linked to a sex trafficking probe into late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump’s Epstein reversal
It is a startling reversal, with Mr. Trump previously fighting the proposal.
The US president, a one-time friend of Epstein, has been criticized by Democrats and some fellow Republicans over his handling of the files.
Democrats and some Republicans have been pushing a measure that would force the Justice Department to make public more documents from the case.
The president’s shift is an implicit acknowledgement that supporters of the measure have enough votes to pass the House of Representatives, although it has an unclear future in the Senate.
Lawmakers who support the bill have been predicting a big win in the House this week with a “deluge of Republicans” voting for it.
Republican member of Congress Thomas Massie has told American broadcaster ABC it is a no-brainer.
“In 2030, he’s not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect paedophiles if you don’t vote to release these files, and the president can’t protect you then,” he said.
“The record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”
A MAGA split
Emails released last week by a House committee showed the disgraced financier believed Mr. Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.
The battle over the disclosure of more Epstein-related documents has opened a rift with some of his allies in Congress.
Many of Mr. Trump’s most loyal supporters believe the government is withholding sensitive documents about Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019, that would reveal the late financier’s ties to powerful public figures.
Mr. Trump late on Friday withdrew his support for US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, long one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, following her criticism of Republicans on certain issues, including the handling of the Epstein files.
US Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and an original sponsor of the petition calling for a vote on the files’ release, said on Sunday he expected more than 40 Republicans to vote in favor.
Republicans hold the majority in the House, with 219 seats versus 214 for Democrats. ABC/wires