President Donald Trump took aim at both Democrats and “stupid” Republicans on Wednesday after newly obtained documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate suggested the president knew about the late sex offender’s criminal activity.
Trump’s Truth Social rant also comes as House Democrats make progress on releasing the full trove of documents, thanks to some Republicans joining them in a petition to force a vote on their release.
“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump wrote.
“Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap,” he warned.
Four Republicans ― Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Nancy Mace (S.C.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.) ― sided with Democrats in voting for a petition to force a House vote on releasing the Justice Department’s full trove of Epstein files ― which Trump’s administration said they wouldn’t do, reversing course on his campaign promises in a move that rocked his MAGA base over the summer.
“There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else,” Trump continued Wednesday, “and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”
Trump’s message to Republicans follows reports that he reached out directly to Boebert and Mace about their votes on Tuesday, sources told The New York Times. The call to Boebert reportedly preceded the Justice Department summoning Boebert to a meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Trump has not yet been able to reach Mace on the phone, the Times noted, but she posted in his support Wednesday morning.
While Greene, Boebert and Mace have been die-hard allies to Trump, their joining the petition reflects their supporters’ longstanding demands about the Epstein files, which were once loudly echoed by Trump, Bondi and other members of his administration.
The files released Wednesday, obtained via a subpoena to the Epstein estate, raise questions about whether Trump knew Epstein was sex-trafficking minors.
Trump “knew about the girls,” Epstein wrote in a 2019 email, months before he died in prison awaiting trial.
