{"id":290098,"date":"2025-11-18T02:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/290098\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T02:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:05:10","slug":"the-prospect-of-an-embarrassing-defeat-convinced-trump-to-reverse-course-on-epstein-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/290098\/","title":{"rendered":"The prospect of an embarrassing defeat convinced Trump to reverse course on Epstein files"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n President Donald Trump<\/a> is no longer fighting the release of the Epstein files<\/a>. But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s happy about it.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump threw his support behind a congressional effort to release all the files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after it became clear that he could not halt its momentum and that he risked suffering an embarrassing blow on the House floor, people familiar with the matter told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n The stark reality, which was conveyed to Trump by allies and advisers in recent days, drove the president\u2019s abrupt reversal Sunday evening and his comments Monday that he\u2019ll sign the measure if it comes to his desk. It\u2019s a decision he came to reluctantly, but one that is now likely to clear the way for the measure\u2019s overwhelming passage in the House on Tuesday and for the Senate to take it up after that.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSure, I would,\u201d Trump said from the Oval Office on Monday when asked whether he\u2019d sign the measure.\n <\/p>\n

\n It was a rare moment of retreat for a president who has made a habit of bending Washington to his will since returning to office. And it came after the White House privately tried and failed last week to pressure a handful of Republican lawmakers to abandon their support for the measure, and days after Trump attacked those defectors as \u201csoft and foolish.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again,\u201d the president wrote in one post on Truth Social. \u201cOnly a very bad, or stupid, Republicans would fall into that trap.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump remains personally frustrated by the continuing focus on the Epstein files, the people familiar with the matter said, viewing them as a distraction from his agenda that Democrats have since co-opted as fodder for political attacks. The president resents being tied to Epstein, who he has said he cut ties with well before Epstein was charged with any crimes, and has been irritated at the central role some of his close allies have played in the campaign for the files, those people said.\n <\/p>\n

\"Representative<\/p>\n

\n Just 48 hours before flipping his stance on the Epstein files, Trump attacked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in bitterly personal terms over her strident support for the House measure, withdrawing his endorsement and labeling the Georgia Republican a \u201ctraitor.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, Trump ultimately shifted his own position after advisers and allies convinced him that the House measure\u2019s passage was inevitable despite his best efforts \u2014 and that fighting it was only fueling more attention.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, in what one of the people familiar with the matter characterized as a tactical move, Trump and his allies are hoping that backing the speedy passage of the measure will allow Republicans to move past the issue more quickly and give the administration an opening to refocus attention on policy efforts that Trump has complained are going ignored.\n <\/p>\n

\"House<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019ll just get this done and move it on,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson said on \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d over the weekend. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to hide.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Johnson on Monday suggested he may vote for the measure after months of siding with Trump against it, citing new optimism that the Senate will \u201cbe able to correct\u201d some of his concerns over its language.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump has since adopted that attitude, encouraging Republicans on Monday to shift their focus to areas that are viewed as far more crucial to next year\u2019s midterm elections.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAll I want is I want for people to recognize a great job that I\u2019ve done on pricing, on affordability,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to take it away from really the greatness of what the Republican Party has accomplished.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump in the meantime has also sought to turn the Epstein issue against Democrats, ordering a Justice Department investigation of the former financier\u2019s ties to a range of people including former President Bill Clinton and prominent economic adviser Larry Summers<\/a>. (Neither has been accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and nor has Trump.)\n <\/p>\n

\n White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson cited the probe as evidence that Trump has wanted \u201ctransparency related to the Epstein files.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,\u201d she said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n

\n Friday\u2019s announcement has sparked fresh questions about whether the Justice Department could then cite the open investigation in refusing to turn over documents to Congress.\n <\/p>\n

\n A White House official told CNN that Trump has not ordered the department to stand in the way of any congressional requests, but it\u2019s unclear how it will respond if the House measure is ultimately signed into law.\n <\/p>\n

\n That consideration, though, is likely weeks away. The Senate is due to break for a Thanksgiving recess at the end of the week, meaning it likely could not take up the measure until December at the earliest. And despite the broad bipartisan support in the House, Senate Majority Leader John Thune remains uncommitted on bringing the Epstein measure to the floor quickly, or even at all, a GOP leadership aide said.\n <\/p>\n

\n That provides the White House with an opening that allies hope Trump can take advantage of to refocus voters and elevate the far more advantageous elements of his agenda, the people familiar with the matter said \u2014 for at least as long as they can keep the Epstein issue at bay.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt never fully gets tamped \u2026 and part of that is just the sheer fact that a conspiracy theory never goes away,\u201d said Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist. \u201cTrump has ways of distracting and turning our attention away, but what\u2019s to say it doesn\u2019t pop up two months down the road or six months down the road?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump himself alluded to that on Monday when voicing his support for releasing the files.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNo matter what we give, it\u2019s never enough,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN\u2019s Kristen Holmes and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump is no longer fighting the release of the Epstein files. But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-290098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}