美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)周一表示，他将签署一项法案，迫使司法部公布所有与性侵犯者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦(Jeffrey Epstein)有关的文件，如果这些文件到达他的办公桌的话。
“我完全支持，”他在椭圆形办公室的一次活动中回答记者提问时说，认为争议偏离了他的行政成功。
片刻之后再次按下如果他会签署法案豪斯将于周二上任，特朗普回答说:“我当然会。”
“让元老院看看吧。让任何人看它。但是不要谈论太多，因为，老实说，我不想让它从我们身边带走。这真的是一个民主党人的问题，”他说。
特朗普在周日突然改变立场，表示众议院共和党人应该投票赞成公布这些文件，此前他对该措施进行了长达一个月的反对。消息人士称，这一努力最近以一次失败告终试图劝阻共和党众议员劳伦Boebert在白宫情况室支持出院请愿，以迫使地板投票。
该立法的共同发起人、肯塔基州共和党众议员托马斯·马西(Thomas Massie)早些时候在美国广播公司(ABC)的“本周”(This Week)节目中表示，他认为100名或更多的共和党人可能会投票赞成公布这些文件。
特朗普周一表示，如果该法案在参议院获得通过，他将签署该法案。之后，马西在X上发帖称:“期待参加这项法案的签署。”
但即使特朗普公开改变立场，是否会公布全部档案仍是个问题。
如果该法案如预期的那样在众议院获得通过，它仍需经过参议院，参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩尚未公开承诺举行投票。参议院多数党党鞭约翰·巴拉索(John Barrasso)周日在全国广播公司(NBC)的“会见媒体”节目中表示，参议院将“看看”众议院通过的内容。
“我不确定有什么证据，”巴拉索说。“我所知道的是，众议院将在本周投票，试图做出决定，我们将看看他们是否会向参议院提交一些东西。如果有，我们会看一下。但是我们需要透明度和问责制。我还知道杰弗里·爱泼斯坦是一名被定罪的性犯罪者，他已经死了。特朗普总统21年前把他赶出了马拉拉戈。”
此外，应特朗普的要求，司法部已经开始调查爱泼斯坦与包括前总统比尔·克林顿在内的高调民主党人之间的关系。
特朗普周日在社交媒体上发文称，共和党人应该投票公布这些文件，并特别补充说，众议院监督委员会“可以拥有他们依法有权拥有的任何东西。”
对爱泼斯坦事件的激烈争论爆发于7月，当时司法部和美国联邦调查局发布了一份备忘录，称他们计划未来不再公开披露与他们对爱泼斯坦案件的审查有关的信息，也不会提出进一步的指控，因为他们“没有发现可以对未被指控的第三方进行调查的证据”
上周，众议院民主党人公布了来自爱泼斯坦遗产的电子邮件，其中多次提到特朗普的名字。在一封写于2011年的电子邮件中，爱泼斯坦称特朗普为“不会叫的狗”，他告诉共犯吉斯莱恩·麦克斯韦尔，一名据称的受害者曾与特朗普“在我家呆了几个小时”。
特朗普与爱泼斯坦多年来一直友好，他在爱泼斯坦于2019年被捕后表示，他们在闹翻后已经有十多年没有说过话了。白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特(Karoline Leavitt)上周驳回了新发布的电子邮件，称它们“除了证明特朗普总统没有做错任何事情之外，什么也证明不了。”
特朗普周一表示，他的政府已经向众议院委员会提供了数万份文件，并重申爱泼斯坦事件是一个“骗局”。
“这只是一个俄罗斯、俄罗斯、俄罗斯的骗局，因为它与共和党有关。现在，我相信我们中的许多人，我们提到的一些人，正因为他们与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的关系而受到非常严肃的审视，但他们一直与他在一起。我没有。我根本没有，我们将看看会发生什么，”特朗普说。
周一，众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊继续对强制公布文件的立法表示担忧，并表示他已经就这个问题与川普谈了“相当多”。
“他的声明不言自明，”约翰逊说。“他什么都没有，他从来没有什么要隐瞒的。他和我有着同样的担忧，我们希望确保这些令人发指的罪行的受害者得到完全的保护，不被披露。那些不希望自己的名字出现在公众面前的人，我不确定出院申请做到了这一点，这是问题的一部分。”
约翰逊后来说，他期待一个"大量选票"在众议院支持这项措施。
当ABC新闻的雷切尔·斯科特问及为什么总统不应该在投票之前自己公布这些文件时，约翰逊坚称特朗普支持在此事上“最大程度的透明”。
“他告诉国会去做。我不知道他还能在透明度方面做些什么，”约翰逊说。
特朗普在众议院投票中逆转后，国会山的民主党人表示，他现在可以自己采取行动公布文件。
参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默在纽约萨拉托加举行的新闻发布会上说:“他说众议院投票赞成，我希望众议院会尽快这样做，但他可以结束所有的问题，而不只是告诉众议院投票赞成。”“释放他们。现在就释放他们。”
Trump says he would sign bill to release Epstein files if it reaches his desk
President Donald Trump on Monday said he would sign a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files relating sex offender Jeffrey Epstein if it reaches his desk.
"I'm all for it," he said as he took reporter questions during an event in the Oval Office, contending the controversy is deflecting from his administration successes.
Pressed again moments later if he would sign the bill that theHouse is set to take up Tuesday, Trump replied: "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 it to take away from us. It's really a Democrat problem," he said.
The comments come after Trump's sudden reversal on Sunday that House Republicans should vote yes on releasing the files, after his monthslong opposition to the measure -- an effort that recently culminated with what sources said was anattempt to dissuadeGOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room from supporting the discharge petition to force a floor vote.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the legislation, had said earlier on ABC's "This Week" that he thinks 100 or more Republicans could vote in favor of releasing the files.
After Trump said on Monday he would sign the measure if it passes the Senate, Massie posted on X: "Looking forward to attending this bill signing."
But questions remain as to whether the full files will be released, even with Trump's public change in position.
If the bill passes the House, as is expected, it will still have to go through the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune has not yet publicly committed to holding a vote. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, said only that the Senate would "take a look" at what passes the House.
"I'm not sure what evidence is out there,” Barrasso said. "What I do know is that the House is going to vote this week, try to make a decision, and we'll see if they send something to the Senate. And if they do, we'll take a look at that. But we want transparency and accountability. What I also know is that Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted sex offender and he is dead. And President Trump threw him out of Mar-a-Lago 21 years ago."
Plus, a new Department of Justice investigation has been started at Trump's request into ties between Epstein and high-profile Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton.
Trump, in his social media post on Sunday saying Republicans should vote to release the files, notably added that the House Oversight Committee "can have whatever they are legally entitled to."
The firestorm over the Epstein matter erupted in July when the Department of Justice and FBI released a memo stating they planned to make no future public disclosures related to their review of Epstein's case, and no further charges were expected as they "did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties."
Last week, House Democrats released emails from the Epstein estate that mentioned Trump by name multiple times. In one email, written in 2011, Epstein referred to Trump as the "dog that hasn't barked" and he told accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that an alleged victim had "spent hours at my house" with Trump.
Trump, who was friendly with Epstein for years, said after Epstein’s arrest in 2019 that they hadn’t spoken in more than a decade after having a falling out. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the newly released emails last week, saying they "prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong."
Trump on Monday said his administration's already given House committees tens of thousands of documents, and repeated that the Epstein matter is a "hoax."
"It's just a Russia, Russia, Russia hoax as it pertains to the Republicans. Now, I believe that many of the people that we, some of the people that we mentioned are being looked at very seriously for their relationship to Jeffrey Epstein, but they were with him all the time. I wasn't. I wasn't at all, and we'll see what happens," Trump said.
On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson continued to raise concerns about the legislation to force the release of the files and said he's spoken to Trump "quite a bit" on the issue.
"His statements speak for themselves," Johnson said. "He has nothing, he has never had anything to hide. He and I had the same concern, that we wanted to ensure that victims of these heinous crimes were completely protected from disclosure. Those who don’t want their names to be out there, and I am not sure the discharge petition does that and that’s part of the problem."
Johnsonsaid later that he expects a"large vote tally"to back the measure in the House.
Asked by ABC News' Rachel Scott why the president shouldn't get ahead of the vote and release the files himself,Johnsoninsisted that Trump is for "maximum transparency" on the matter.
"He's telling the Congress to do it. I'm not sure what more he could do by way of transparency,"Johnson said.
Democrats on Capitol Hill, after Trump's reversal on the House vote, said he could act now to release the files himself.
"He said for the House to vote for it, and I hope the house will and do it quickly, but he could end all the problems instead of just telling the House to vote for it," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference in Saratoga, New York. "Release them. Release them now."
