Trump Says House Republicans Should Vote to Release Epstein Files

President Trump on Sunday urged House Republicans to back a measure that would compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, a sudden reversal after his campaign to tamp down G.O.P. dissent and halt the vote.

Mr. Trump said on social media that House Republicans should vote to release files related to the sex offender “because we have nothing to hide.” It was a striking shift in his stance as he faced the possibility that dozens of G.O.P. lawmakers could support the measure in a floor vote expected this week.

“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, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown,’” he wrote.

The president’s turnabout followed his intensive pressure campaign over the Epstein files that often appeared to overshadow efforts on other matters, including the recent government shutdown. In a last-ditch effort in recent days, Mr. Trump reached out personally to try to sway Republican lawmakers backing the measure, summoning one to a meeting in the White House Situation Room with his attorney general and F.B.I. director to discuss the demand to release the files.

It was unclear how quickly Mr. Trump’s tightly controlled Justice Department might release files on Mr. Epstein, or whether the president’s seeming backing of the idea might speed such a release, regardless of the vote. When he ordered the department to look into Democrats associated with Mr. Epstein last week, his own ties to the disgraced financier were receiving renewed scrutiny because of a release of a trove of emails in which Mr. Epstein claimed Mr. Trump knew of his activities.

The Republican base remains split over the files, and the tension has led to a falling-out between Mr. Trump and one of his closest political allies, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.