President Trump on Sunday urged House Republicans to back a measure that would compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, a sudden reversal after his campaign to tamp down G.O.P. dissent and halt the vote.
Mr. Trump said on social media that House Republicans should vote to release files related to the sex offender “because we have nothing to hide,” a dramatic shift in his stance as he faced the possibility that dozens of G.O.P. lawmakers could support the measure in a floor vote expected this week.
“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,’” he wrote.
The president’s turnabout followed his intensive pressure campaign over the Epstein files that often appeared to overshadow efforts on other matters, including the recent government shutdown. In a last-ditch effort in recent days, Mr. Trump reached out personally to try to sway Republican lawmakers backing the measure, summoning one to a meeting in the White House Situation Room with his attorney general and F.B.I. director to discuss the demand to release the files.
It was unclear how quickly Mr. Trump’s tightly controlled Justice Department might release files on Mr. Epstein, or whether the president’s seeming backing of the idea might speed such a release, regardless of the vote. When he ordered the department to look into Democrats associated with Mr. Epstein last week, his own ties to the disgraced financier were receiving renewed scrutiny because of a release of a trove of emails in which Mr. Epstein claimed Mr. Trump knew of his activities.
The Republican base remains split over the files, and the tension has led to a falling-out between Mr. Trump and one of his closest political allies, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
On Sunday, minutes after Mr. Trump publicly reversed course on the Epstein files, he said on social media that Ms. Greene “is working overtime to try and portray herself as a victim when, in actuality, she is the cause of all of her own problems.” Mr. Trump has escalated his attacks on Ms. Greene in the past week, calling her a “traitor,” something that she says has led to death threats.
Ms. Greene is far from the only Republican lawmaker pushing to release the files.
Hours before Mr. Trump’s announcement on Sunday evening, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has helped lead congressional efforts, suggested in an ABC News interview that “100 or more” House Republicans could vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files this week despite opposition from the president. Speaker Mike Johnson also predicted significant G.O.P. support, acknowledging on Sunday that there would be “lots of votes” for the bill.
Mr. Johnson said last week he would move up the timeline for a vote on the bill to this week, and told “Fox News Sunday” that the House just needed to “get this done and move it on.”
“There’s nothing to hide,” he added.
Mr. Massie has long called on other Republicans to support the measure. “The record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency,” he said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
On Wednesday, lawmakers released more than 20,000 emails belonging to Mr. Epstein in which the sex offender claimed that the president once “spent hours at my house” with a young woman who later accused Mr. Epstein of sexually abusing and trafficking her when she was a teenager.
The document dump fueled the political drama engulfing Mr. Trump, Mr. Johnson and his Republican majority. Mr. Trump dismissed the emails as a “hoax” to drive attention away from the government shutdown, which he blamed on Democrats. But pressure instead built on Mr. Johnson, who relented in moving up the vote.
Ashley Ahn covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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