“We have nothing to hide,” US President Donald Trump said on his Truth social network on Sunday. This was a notable change of heart regarding the wisdom of releasing documents related to the case of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which are in the possession of the Department of Justice.
Before being re-elected, Trump and his followers had promised that they would do so as soon as they returned to the White House, but then changed their minds in July. Since then, they have blocked access to the contents of those files, while the Congressional Oversight Committee has published materials obtained by court order from the financier’s family.
Last week, Trump pressured Republicans in the House of Representatives to sabotage a bill to order his declassification in a vote that 218 representatives from both parties managed to force. The vote is scheduled for this Tuesday. He assured Monday that if the legislative initiative were to move forward in Congress, he would not oppose its release, even though he has the power to veto it.
“Republicans,” the president of the United States wrote on TruthSocial, “should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to turn the page on this Democratic hoax perpetrated by radical left crazies to distract from our greatest successes.”
This is a legislative initiative promoted by a Democrat, Ro Khanna (California), and a Republican, Thomas Massie (Kentucky). The latter received a nasty attack last Friday from Trump, who criticized him for having remarried a year after being widowed. Despite the distasteful message, Massie emerges stronger from this crisis. Last week he ventured that “between 40 and 50” of his co-religionists would vote for the publication of the dossiers on pedophiles. This Monday, a few hours before the study scheduled in the Capitol, he estimated that the initiative will be supported by “more than a hundred” conservatives.
Massie put pressure on them by reminding them that Trump will not be in the White House in three years, but that a vote “to protect pedophiles” will haunt them for the rest of their political careers.
Trump’s change of heart seems like an attempt to regain the helm of history which, as we know, he does not like to lose. Part of this operation began last Friday, with a request to Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch investigations into Democrats who regularly appear in dossiers that come to light. He named three: former President Bill Clinton, former Harvard Chancellor (and Clinton Cabinet member) Larry Summers, and megadonor Reid Hoffman. Bondi immediately said he would get to work.
Then the Senate
It is worth remembering that allowing Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the files is nothing more than a simulation. Trump would end it all sooner – immediately, in fact – if he ordered Bondi to release the files, because he doesn’t need Congress for that.
If the proposal were to move forward this Tuesday, it would go to the Senate, where 60 votes would be needed. Democrats have 47 seats. So, the law should be signed by Trump.
Robert Garcia, a ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement Monday that Trump “has tried every means to stop the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.” “Now he has panicked and realized that he is going to lose the vote on Epstein, which would force the Department of Justice to release the files,” Garcia said. ” Let’s be clear: Trump has the power to release all the files today. “But instead he wants to continue this cover-up and launch new bogus investigations to divert attention and delay our investigation. He won’t understand it. “We will get justice for the victims.”
This Monday, some of them posted a video in which they posed with their photos of the moment they were abused by Epstein. “It’s time to shed light on the darkness,” they say in that recording. They are scheduled to travel to the Capitol tomorrow to pressure lawmakers with their presence.
Epstein died in 2019 in a maximum-security cell in Manhattan while awaiting trial for a sex trafficking ring involving hundreds of underage victims. The medical examiner ruled it a suicide. Those who believe in conspiracy theories suspect that he was killed to prevent him from hiding the identities of the rich and powerful who allegedly participated in or had knowledge of his crimes.
There is currently no evidence on that client list. The publication of all the dossiers, closer than a few days ago, could serve to dispel these suspicions once and for all.
