President Donald Trump told reporters he would sign a bill to force the Justice Department to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, framing the effort as transparency and a way to keep the focus on Republican achievements. House Republicans were preparing to vote as the president spoke, with lawmakers weighing concerns about how broadly the measure is written. The debate touched on party reputation, legal safeguards for innocents, and whether the push helps or hurts the GOP politically.
At the White House, Trump was direct when asked about the legislation, saying, “I’m all for it.” He repeated his support when pressed about signing the bill if it reaches his desk, answering plainly, “Sure I would.” Those short, unequivocal replies undercut suggestions the party might obstruct disclosure out of self-protection.
Trump framed the matter as one that had little to do with him personally and everything to do with Democratic circles, asserting, “We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do. All of his friends were Democrats.” That line sets the Republican case clearly: transparency now, but also a claim that the political responsibility lies elsewhere. It’s a simple political defense tactic, aimed at moving the public conversation back to policy gains.
Beyond the one-liners, Trump broadened his point to emphasize accomplishments, urging voters not to let the Epstein story eclipse the party’s record: “All I want is I want for people to recognize a great job that I’ve done on pricing, on affordability, because we brought prices way down, but they go way lower. On energy, on ending eight wars and another one coming pretty soon, I believe. We’ve done a great job, and I hate to see that deflect from the great job we’ve done. So I’m all for it.” That mix of policy bragging and support for release is designed to keep the GOP’s narrative front and center.
The president also told reporters, “Let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it. But don’t talk about it too much, because honestly… it’s really a Democrat problem,” and continued, “The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them. And it’s a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax, and I don’t want to take it away from really the greatness of what the Republican Party has accomplished over the last period of time.” Those words convey a two-track approach: endorse disclosure while insisting the controversy is not a reflection of Republican governance.
House Republicans said they would back the measure, even as several members expressed unease about the bill’s language and potential collateral damage. Speaker Mike Johnson had publicly pushed for transparency but warned the legislation should be refined to protect innocent people whose names might surface inadvertently. That tension — between raw disclosure and responsible redaction — shaped the internal debate as the discharge petition moved the bill to the floor.
The mechanism sending the bill to a vote was a discharge petition led by members across the aisle, illustrating unusual bipartisan pressure for openness. Some GOP lawmakers embraced the effort as a chance to demonstrate accountability, while others signaled they wanted clearer guardrails to avoid injustice for anyone unfairly implicated. The split shows Republicans are balancing voter demand for transparency against the duty to prevent needless harm.
Trump also used social media to prod House Republicans to support the release, arguing that if the Democrats had anything damaging it would have surfaced before last year’s election. 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,” and added, “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. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” That post doubles as instruction for messaging and a rallying call to keep achievements in front of voters.
