{"id":15755,"date":"2025-11-17T13:16:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T13:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-trump-blinks-on-epstein-as-gop-rebels\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T13:16:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T13:16:45","slug":"capitol-agenda-trump-blinks-on-epstein-as-gop-rebels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-trump-blinks-on-epstein-as-gop-rebels\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Trump blinks on Epstein as GOP rebels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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.<\/p>\n

In a late Sunday Truth Social post<\/a>, Trump said House Republicans should vote to release DOJ records on the late convicted sex offender \u201cbecause we have nothing to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI DON\u2019T CARE!\u201d he said. \u201cAll I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s reversal after a monthslong pressure campaign came as dozens of Republicans \u2014 perhaps as many as 100<\/a> \u2014 were already poised to break with him in a vote Tuesday<\/a>. Even close allies of GOP leadership were weighing whether to defect<\/a> from the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big full disclosure person,\u201d said House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx, a trusted member in Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s inner circle, who declined to say how she would vote. \u201cI have nothing to hide, and I assume nobody else does, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of Trump\u2019s U-turn, Hill Republicans had grown increasingly wary of his fixation on the issue, according to five people granted anonymity to describe internal GOP conversations. Evidence has not linked Trump to wrongdoing in the Epstein case, and the president has maintained that he and the financier had a falling out years ago.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s edict is just about the House, two White House officials tell Blue Light News. It amounts to a face-saving move ahead of a vote he was going to lose, and at this point it\u2019s still likely the matter dies in the Senate.<\/p>\n

One senior Republican marveled at Trump\u2019s \u201cerratic\u201d and unsettling attempt last week to kill the effort, including pulling Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) into the White House Situation Room. That preceded a dramatic break over the weekend when he withdrew his endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). <\/p>\n

The Georgia Republican told BLN Sunday that the animosity between her and Trump \u201chas all come down to the Epstein files.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea what\u2019s in the files. I can\u2019t even guess,\u201d Greene said. \u201cBut that is the question everyone is asking is why fight this so hard?\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of Trump\u2019s obsession over the House vote is Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has decisively outmaneuvered the president with the disclosure push. Massie, whom Trump is trying to oust in next year\u2019s primary, said in an interview that the Epstein vote reflects how Republicans are looking ahead to a post-Trump world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to look past 2028 and wonder if they want this on their record for the rest of their political career,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Once the House passes the bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats are expected to launch a blitz to pressure Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring it to the floor. Democrats may also look at upcoming appropriations bills to try to force an Epstein vote.<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 Health care talks:<\/b> House committee chairs will begin listening sessions<\/a> this week with GOP members on the fate of soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies. It will likely be a big topic of conversation at Tuesday\u2019s conference meeting.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Undoing the Senate:<\/b> The House on Wednesday is fast-tracking a vote<\/a> to repeal the politically toxic<\/a> records seizure payout provision that Thune secured in the deal to reopen the government.<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cbecause we have nothing to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}