Name: Behind Trumps reversal on releasing Epstein files
Uploaded: 2025-11-18T02:00:39.650Z
Duration: 3 min 20 s
Description: President Trump has changed his mind and is now calling on the House to vote to force the Justice Department to release all of its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

President Trump has changed his mind and is now calling on the House to vote to force the Justice Department to release all of its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Washington

President Trump has shifted his position and is now urging the House of Representatives to vote in favor of releasing all Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein. This change follows unsuccessful efforts by Trump and his aides to persuade Republicans against supporting the measure, as bipartisan support in the House grew.

Recent developments include the release of emails linking Trump to Epstein, public demands from survivors for transparency, and ongoing questions about whether the Department of Justice might withhold files due to active investigations. Separately, the United Nations Security Council has approved a U.S.-backed peace plan for Gaza, which includes an international stabilization force.

Behind Trump's reversal on releasing Epstein files

Good evening, I'm Maurice DuBois. I'm John Dickerson. President Trump has changed his mind. He is now calling on the House to vote to force the Justice Department to release all of its files on Jeffrey Epstein. It appears the House was ready to do that anyway, whether the President wanted it to or not. At issue is whether Mr. Trump knew about the alleged sex trafficking of underage girls. The President denies any wrongdoing and calls the Epstein matter a hoax. Nancy Cordes is at the White House. Nancy. John, President Trump and his aides tried to talk Republicans out of this Epstein vote. Trump even branded one Republican a traitor. But his effort to change their minds was unsuccessful. So now, he's changing his position instead. Let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it. President Trump's new take on the Epstein files came first in a social media post on Sunday night. He said House Republicans should vote to release the files because we have nothing to hide and it's time to move on. I'm all for it. You know, we've already given 50,000 pages. Just last week, Trump was urging his party to ignore the Epstein files, saying only a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap. Look, this is a Democrat hoax. But it has now become clear that many House Republicans plan to vote yes tomorrow on a bipartisan measure aimed at forcing the Justice Department to release all of its files related to the late convicted sex offender. I think that we just need to get all the documents, put them out there, and go from there. Trump's name came up repeatedly in a trove of emails from the Epstein estate released by the House last week. In one email from 2019, Epstein said, of course Trump knew about the girls. That quote has already made its way onto billboards in Times Square. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters today Trump has nothing to hide. He and I had the same concern, that we wanted to ensure that victims of these heinous crimes are completely protected from disclosure. Those who don't want their names to be out there. I was 14 years old. I was 16 years old. I was 16. 17. 14 years old. Over the weekend, a group of Epstein survivors issued this new ad demanding the release of all the files. There are about 1,000 of us. It's time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. It's time to shine a light. Trump called again today for Epstein's Democratic friends to be investigated. And the Attorney General has already agreed. And that has members of Congress wondering, even if this vote tomorrow is successful, will DOJ try to keep the Epstein files under wraps by claiming that those files are part of a new active investigation? And Nancy, separately here today, there's news today from the UN on the President's peace plan for Gaza. What do we know about that tonight? Yes, the UN Security Council, Maurice, has approved the administration's 20-point plan for Gaza, which includes the creation of an international stabilization force to provide security in the war-torn territory. That's critical because they need to get Arab countries to contribute troops. Those countries wanted to do so, but they wanted the UN to approve it first. And of course, the better the security is in Gaza, the more quickly rebuilding can take place there.

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U.S. President Donald Trump is ducking press questions about newly released emails connecting him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activities ahead of an expected vote on releasing all Epstein case files by the U.S. House of Representatives as early as next week.

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