In Video: Trump changes course, supports releasing Epstein files after seeing ‘writing on the wall’

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Welcome to Meet the Press

Now, I’m Gabe Gutierrez in Washington, where President Trump is now urging House Republicans to vote yes on a bill that would force his own Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files. And moments ago, telling reporters he would sign the bill into law if it got to his desk. The president’s willingness to release the files represents a stunning one, as just months ago, he was calling the files a Democratic hoax and attacking members of his own party when they brought up the issue in a social media post.

The president writing, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide.” The president also warning that Democrats would be implicated after he directed the Justice Department to launch a new investigation.

Today, the president spoke to reporters about his support for the House bill. But at the same time, he downplayed the issue, insisting that the Epstein files are a distraction.

DO YOU WANT TO SEE PASSED THE SENATE? WOULD YOU SIGN THAT BILL IF IT GETS TO YOUR DESK?

“I do want to. Here’s what I want. We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do. All of his friends were Democrats. What? I just don’t want Epstein to do is distract from the great success of the Republican Party.”

YOU HAD SIGNED…

“Give them everything. Sure. I would let the Senate look at it, let anybody look at it. But don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from what the Republican Party has accomplished over the last period of time.”

The president’s pivot on the Epstein files comes as a Trump ally tells NBC News that Republicans have privately pressured the White House to shift its stance, warning they could see mass Republican support for the House vote to release the files. Sources tell NBC News that the vote could be as soon as tomorrow.

Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to frame themselves as rising above politics. Congressman Ro Khanna, one of the co-sponsors of the resolution to release the files, telling Meet the Press, “If you gave me a choice, I’d rather the president reverse course. I’d rather he release all these files. Someone was saying that his numbers would go up. I don’t care if he gets the political win. It’s not about Donald Trump. I don’t even know how involved Trump was. There are a lot of other people who are involved who have to be held accountable. You know why Trump is losing his MAGA base on this? The reason he’s losing it is he ran saying there’s a corrupt governing elite that has shafted you, that this is the Epstein class, for forgotten Americans. And I’m going to stand up for forgotten Americans. He’s forgotten those forgotten Americans.”

For months, the president has publicly feuded with members of his own party, including former close allies, over the Epstein files. The president this weekend rescinding his support of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and calling her, “a lunatic and a traitor” after she redoubled her criticism of the White House for not releasing the files. Greene reacted to the president’s attacks yesterday.

THE MOST HURTFUL THING HE SAID, WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE, IS HE CALLED ME A TRAITOR. AND THAT IS THAT IS SO EXTREMELY WRONG. AND THOSE ARE THE TYPES OF WORDS USED THAT CAN RADICALIZE PEOPLE AGAINST ME AND PUT MY LIFE IN DANGER.

What do you think happened? What do you think is the reason for this?

NBC NEWS CHIEF JUSTICE AND NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT KELLY O’DONNELL

Well, certainly this is a response. It would appear on its face to political pressure. The president has a sense of what the political mood is and certainly understands what’s happening in the Republican Party. And we’ve seen many more Republicans moving toward supporting the release of the files and wanting to get past this by answering the public’s demand for this information. The president said today to our colleague Garrett Haake, who was the pooler in the Oval asking the questions about this, that this is about wanting to get past it.

The president focused on saying that this is a distraction. Well, it’s been a distraction, in part because it has been prolonged. And the president, initially, when he was campaigning, said he was for the release, then his administration backed away from that, put a lot of roadblocks in, tried to stop others from pushing toward the release. And now he’s read the room and decided that it is important to just get past this.

What we don’t know is what the files will tell us, what more information there is. He also separately called for an investigation of Democrats that he said in a social media post, directing the then-Justice Department to take that action. And we saw Pam Bondi assign a top prosecutor to begin that work. We’ll see where that goes. But there are still big questions about can files be released in a timely way when there are new investigations taking place? A lot of those things will have to be sorted out. But politically, the president is trying to kind of reclaim the main ground that other Republicans have been holding.

NBC’S JULIE TSIRKIN ON CAPITOL HILL

I think the critical mass was already there. Gabe, months ago, I was talking to a House leadership source on the Republican side who essentially said that if the discharge petition hits 218 signatures and gets to the floor, we’re going to see a far greater number than just the four Republicans who signed on to it actually vote to compel the DOJ to release these files. And reporters talked to Speaker Johnson earlier today, pressing him on President Trump’s evolution on this issue. He completely defended him.

Take a listen:

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, AND I’M NOT SURE THE DISCHARGE DOES THAT AND THAT’S PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Now, those behind the bill have told me there are adequate protections for redacting the victim names already in this discharge petition, similar to the effort that we’ve seen undertaken by the House Republicans leading the House Oversight Committee investigation, a completely separate but parallel effort.