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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, urged Republican lawmakers this Sunday to vote in favor of the complete release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier accused of sex trafficking minors and found dead in prison in 2019.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move forward and put this Democratic hoax perpetrated by radical leftists behind us,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
The vote is scheduled for Tuesday and aims to declassify thousands of pages related to the Epstein case. The president's shift comes just four days after House Democrats on the Oversight Committee released three emails from the pedophile, one of which claimed that Trump "spent hours" with one of the victims of his network.
Trump, who was friends with the financier and later distanced himself publicly from him, stated that the Department of Justice has already delivered tens of thousands of pages about Epstein and that “Republicans should focus on the party's achievements, not on political traps.”
"The Oversight Committee can have whatever it is legally entitled to, I don't care!" the president wrote. "What does matter to me is that Republicans refocus on the important things: the economy, reducing inflation, record investment in the United States, and rebuilding our military," he added.
In his lengthy message, Trump accused the Democrats of trying to distract from Republican successes, mentioning among them tax cuts, border security, and the deportation of illegal immigrants.
“Nobody cared about Epstein when he was alive, and if the Democrats had anything, they would have leaked it before our crushing electoral victory,” he said.
The president also denounced that "some members of the Republican Party are being used" and warned that one should not fall "into Epstein's trap," which he described as "a curse for the Democrats, not for us."
Change of position
Trump's position represents a notable turnaround, as just a few days ago he opposed the release of the documents. The shift came after a petition to force a vote garnered the necessary support, even among Republican lawmakers.
The congressman from Kentucky Thomas Massie estimated that around a hundred Republicans could vote in favor of declassification, almost half of the party's caucus.
If approved in the House of Representatives, the measure would still require support from the Senate and the signature of Trump himself to take effect.
Recent context
The publication of Epstein's emails has reignited questions about his relationship with Trump. In one of them, the financier wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell, his collaborator convicted of sex trafficking, that the current president “spent hours” at his house with a young victim.
The White House firmly denied the accusations and accused the Democrats of "manipulating partial information for political purposes."
Epstein, who had connections with powerful figures in politics and business, was convicted in 2008 for the prostitution of minors. His death in a New York cell remains a subject of controversy.
Trump, for his part, claims that he severed all ties with Epstein over a decade ago and that the recent leaks aim to "discredit him" ahead of the 2026 election year.
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