A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump abruptly reversed his opinion about a vote on the Epstein files.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
He now says he is in favor of a vote to release information about the convicted sex offender who was his friend for years. The president and his allies in Congress resisted this vote for months. But after many Republicans appeared ready to join Democrats in voting against Trump, the president said he approves and, quote, "we have nothing to hide." We hear from one of Epstein's accusers, Annie Farmer, right after we get up to date on the facts.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Luke Garrett is with us. Trump is now telling Republicans they should vote to tell him to act. Luke, why change now?
LUKE GARRETT, BYLINE: Yeah. That's right. And we need to go back a few days to better understand this move and this moment. Last week, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, and Ro Khanna of California, a Democrat, gathered 218 signatures. That's enough to force a vote on the release of the DOJ documents regarding the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And a source familiar but not authorized to share the House schedule publicly confirmed that Speaker Johnson would bring this vote up on Tuesday. This teed up a really difficult vote for Republicans, who had to decide whether to vote with Trump and against the bill or vote to release the Epstein files. And this was also tough for Trump himself, who faced dozens of potential defectors.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So if the vote is on Tuesday, why did Trump make this Sunday late-night announcement?
GARRETT: Well, in a social media post last night, Trump said he wanted the GOP to move on from what he called the Democratic hoax and distraction. And notably, on the Sunday morning news shows, two House Republicans publicly and loudly rebuked Trump over the Epstein files. On ABC News, Massie took a warning shot against Trump's legacy and any GOP member willing to vote against this bill.
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THOMAS MASSIE: In 2030, he's not going to be the president. And you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don't vote to release these files, and the president can't protect you.
GARRETT: Massie then said he believed a hundred or more House Republicans would vote for the Epstein file bill, even though only a handful signed on to force the ballot.
MARTÍNEZ: Wasn't one of them Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene?
GARRETT: Yeah. That's right. And Trump recently called her a traitor and revoked his political endorsement from her after she became more critical of his policies. When asked why she and Trump had this falling out, Greene told CNN....
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MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Unfortunately, it has all come down to the Epstein files, and that is shocking.
GARRETT: Now, both Massie and Greene said they don't believe Trump himself will be implicated in the files, but these public breaks with the president represented a growing and powerful fissure in the party.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So now that Trump is telling all Republicans to vote for the Epstein file bill, what happens now?
GARRETT: Well, my sources say the House vote is still set for Tuesday. And with Trump giving Republicans permission to support it and every Democrat signing the discharge petition, this bill has a really good chance of advancing. In the Senate, it remains unclear if and when Majority Leader John Thune will bring this up for a vote. But again, Trump's endorsement of the bill, you know, does not hurt, and Thune has said in the last few weeks, you know, he likes this idea of greater transparency. But even if it passes through Congress and the White House, lawmakers Massie and Khanna were warning yesterday that the files might still be kept from the public.
MARTÍNEZ: So after all that, how could that be possible?
GARRETT: Well, Massie and Khanna raised alarm over the new Justice Department investigation into the Epstein case, something it declined to do a few months back. Trump referenced this in his post last night. He said his DOJ is, quote, "looking at various Democrat operatives - Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc. - and their relationships to Epstein," end quote. Massie told ABC News that these investigations could mask the documents further.
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MASSIE: If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can't be released, so this might be a big smoke screen.
GARRETT: The Justice Department has not yet responded to my request for comment on whether an investigation would, in fact, bar them from releasing these documents even if a law told them to do so.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Luke Garrett. Luke, thanks a lot.
GARRETT: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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