President Trump reversed course on Sunday, urging House Republicans to support a proposal that would require the Justice Department to release all files connected to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The shift came just days before the House is scheduled to vote on the measure, which has gained momentum despite resistance from GOP leadership.

The bill is moving forward after a discharge petition collected the needed 218 signatures last week — an unusual rebuke of party leadership. If it passes the House on Tuesday, it will still need approval in the Senate before landing on President Trump’s desk for final authorization.

Writing on Truth Social on Sunday evening, Trump encouraged House Republicans to back the full release of the Epstein records. “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,” he said.

As of late Sunday, Trump had not said whether he would publicly advise Senate Republicans to support the measure or whether he would sign it should it reach his desk, according to the New York Post.

The discharge petition that forced the House vote received signatures from all 214 Democrats and four Republicans — Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Their decision drew criticism from Trump, who has warned that some GOP members are being “used” by Democrats.

The push for disclosure comes days after the House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 pages of documents provided by Epstein’s estate. Those materials include emails in which Epstein — who died in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges — claimed that Donald Trump knew about his alleged abuse of underage girls. These assertions, however, are not independently verified, the Post noted.

In one January 31, 2019 email to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls,” claiming Trump once asked Ghislaine Maxwell to stop recruiting victims from the spa at Mar-a-Lago. Wolff’s reliability as a source has long been questioned, and Epstein’s claims have not been corroborated. The next day, Epstein emailed himself, asserting that while “Trump knew of it” and had visited Epstein’s home many times, the future president “never got a massage.”

Trump and Epstein were publicly known to socialize in the 1990s and early 2000s before their relationship reportedly soured over a real-estate bidding conflict involving a Palm Beach mansion.

On Friday, Trump announced he would order the Justice Department and FBI to investigate Epstein’s connections and interactions with a list of prominent public figures and institutions, including former President Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, and major financial entities such as JP Morgan and Chase. He said the goal would be to determine the nature of those relationships and “what was going on with them, and him.” Attorney General Pam Bondi later confirmed that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton had been asked to lead that inquiry.

In his Sunday message online, Trump reiterated that he had no objections to lawful access to Epstein files by Congress. “The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!” he wrote. He added that his priority was keeping Republicans focused on policy rather than becoming entangled in what he described as an “Epstein trap.”

“Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive,” Trump said, arguing that Democrats would have released any damaging information earlier if they believed it would influence elections. He urged Republicans to highlight what he called the party’s “Record Setting Achievements” rather than be diverted by Democratic strategy.

The newly released documents, meanwhile, include digital files, emails, and text messages retrieved from Epstein’s estate. Among them are messages suggesting that Epstein communicated with a Democratic member of Congress during Michael Cohen’s February 2019 testimony. According to the documents, published by the House Oversight Committee and reported by The Washington Post, Epstein appeared to be watching the hearing in real time and informed the congresswoman — whose name was redacted — that Cohen had mentioned longtime Trump assistant Rhona Graff. The implication is that these communications may have influenced the congresswoman’s subsequent questioning of Cohen.

As Congress prepares for Tuesday’s vote, the political stakes continue to rise, with both parties reacting to the possibility that a broad release of Epstein-related materials could reshape ongoing narratives around power, influence, and accountability in Washington.