By Brian Shilhavy
Trump caved in Sunday night to the foregone conclusion that the GOP-led House was going to go against his wishes and vote to release the Epstein files, and actually told the Republicans to go ahead and vote for it, because he had “nothing to hide.”
I would be surprised now if anyone in the House will refuse to sign on. It may pass 435 to 0.
Then what happens in the Senate? It would be hard to imagine that they will not follow suit, passing the bill to Trump to sign.
Then the big question will be: Are they really releasing the files, or just more stuff already out in the public domain as Pam Bondi did earlier this year? I doubt they will release any of the videos, claiming that they are protecting the victims.
From Politico (https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/11/17/congress/trump-epstein-files-house-vote-update-00654109):
President Donald Trump is coming to grips with his impending loss on the Jeffrey Epstein files and a rare moment of tenuous control over the House GOP.
In a late Sunday Truth Social post, Trump said House Republicans should vote to release DOJ records on the late convicted sex offender “because we have nothing to hide.”
“I DON’T CARE!” he said. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
Trump’s reversal after a monthslong pressure campaign came as dozens of Republicans — perhaps as many as 100 — were already poised to break with him in a vote Tuesday. Even close allies of GOP leadership were weighing whether to defect from the president.
“I’m a big full disclosure person,” said House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx, a trusted member in Speaker Mike Johnson’s inner circle, who declined to say how she would vote. “I have nothing to hide, and I assume nobody else does, either.
Trump’s edict is just about the House, two White House officials tell POLITICO. It amounts to a face-saving move ahead of a vote he was going to lose, and at this point it’s still likely the matter dies in the Senate.
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