Trump is definitely not mad about the vote to release the Epstein files

President Donald Trump fired off an angry Truth Social post on Sunday in which he said Republicans should vote for the House bill that would force him to release the Epstein files, yet continued to maintain that the files are a "hoax"—his favorite term for an issue that makes him look bad.

"As I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the Fake News Media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and 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,'" Trump wrote in his poorly written screed of the effort to get him to release the government's files on now-deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump went on to insist in all caps that "I DON'T CARE" about the files—an obvious lie as he has spent months refusing to make files public and even waged an intense pressure campaign on Republicans to get them to vote against the bill that would force him to release the documents.

Last week, he even summoned Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to the Situation Room—where top-secret discussions take place—to try to convince her to remove her name from the petition that is now requiring House Speaker Mike Johnson to put the Epstein files bill up for a vote.

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In fact, the entire Epstein files scandal led to a now ugly and public breakup with Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who criticized Trump for not releasing the files.

While Trump said Republicans should vote for the bipartisan bill that would force him to release the Epstein files, he criticized the GOP lawmakers who have joined Democrats in their efforts to make the documents public.

"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,” Trump wrote. “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!"

All of this is a total about-face from his previous demands that Republicans vote against releasing the Epstein files.

“Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap,” Trump wrote Wednesday in a post on Truth Social of the Epstein files bill vote, adding there, “should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else.”

Trump again criticized Republicans who wanted to vote to release the files, writing in a Friday post that Republicans who want to vote for the bill are "weak" and "foolish."

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It's unclear how the Epstein files could implicate Trump in Epstein's crimes—if at all. However, Trump’s own officials sat him down earlier this year and told him that he appeared in the documents.

And emails from Epstein's estate that House Democrats made public last week showed that Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls" Epstein surrounded himself with, and that Trump even spent time with one of Epstein's victims.

Democrats, meanwhile, said that if Trump now wants Republicans to vote for the files to be released, that Trump should just release the files himself.

“.@realDonaldTrump I’m glad you finally realized that you are about to lose this Epstein vote and are now encouraging Republicans to VOTE YES. But you have the power to release them today without a vote. Stop the cover-up, RELEASE THE FILES!” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) wrote in a post on X.

Indeed, that may be necessary, as it’s unclear if the GOP-controlled Senate will take up the House bill when it passes.

Some of Epstein’s victims even released an ad on Sunday urging Congress to pass the legislation, talking about their experience being trafficked by Epstein.

“For five administrations, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein have been left in the dark, waiting for answers and accountability. After three decades, it’s finally time to bring the secrets out of the shadows,” World Without Exploitation, which released the ad, wrote. “We are demanding the release of ALL the Epstein files. The time is now! Call your member of congress and tell them to VOTE YES on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. ”

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