The prospect of an embarrassing defeat
convinced Trump to reverse course on Epstein files
CNN.com,
by
Adam Cancryn
Original Article
Posted By: Mad Dog,
11/18/2025 8:29:17 AM
President Donald Trump is no longer fighting the release of the Epstein files. But that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it.
Trump threw his support behind a congressional effort to release all the files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after it became clear that he could not halt its momentum and that he risked suffering an embarrassing blow on the House floor, people familiar with the matter told CNN.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
Knotwyrkin 11/18/2025 8:37:46 AM (No. 2031282)
I have yet to hear a TDS victim explain why with these files, that are supposed to be so damning for Trump, weren't released by Biden for four years. The files will be released, and then the spin will be changed to "Trump modified the files, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." Then more 'blah, blah, blah, blah..."
52 people like this.
The last time he opposed his base he got booed at his own rally. (he was bragging about his covid vaccines) I was hoping he had learned a lesson, but he sure dragged his feet on this.
He had to be trying to protect someone. I am sure there are both Ds and Rs in those files. Let the chips fall Mr. President.
28 people like this.
CNN not a credible source.
74 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Califedup 11/18/2025 9:00:20 AM (No. 2031302)
Saw headline. Saw Author’s name. Saw CNN. Full Stop. Too early in the day to read communist death democrat propaganda.
57 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
seamusm 11/18/2025 9:03:34 AM (No. 2031306)
Guilt by association is what Trump was trying to stave off. Epstein clearly collected many, many friends in high places. But maybe, yes, facing a vote to okay releasing the entirety of Epstein's files, Trump, not wishing to bollox more important matters, said 'Do it - and do it, now!'
10 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
BarryNo 11/18/2025 9:05:32 AM (No. 2031308)
Typical CNN bilge.
40 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
lakerman1 11/18/2025 9:35:05 AM (No. 2031320)
CNN don't cotton to Trump having a victory. They try to be the schoolyard bully, where any response from the targeted victim is inadequate.
But they picked the wrong victim.
20 people like this.
A large group of Epstein's victims were in Washington not long ago. Not one of them claimed that they had given the Department of Justice information on wrongdoers in the Epstein case which DOJ failed to act on.
11 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
chumley 11/18/2025 9:44:56 AM (No. 2031335)
I suspect Trump is doing the very same thing the democrats do...trying to hold onto their house and senate seats. Nobody is surprised when a democrat is a pedophile or other pervert, but it could be bad for republicans. It should be at least the end of a career for anyone. We do get stories about republican pervs from time to time, so safe bet plenty have been to Epstein Island.
Trump is turning into a politician. Its sad.
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 11/18/2025 9:56:30 AM (No. 2031345)
It's CNN. Why would I think it's any sort of real?
26 people like this.
I think Trump wanted the issue to just go away, not because he had anything to fear but because he thought it was a distraction. When he realized that the files would be released in dribs and drabs so as to continue the distraction (and edited to maximize the impression that he and people connected to him were implicated) he finally realized that the only way to make it go away was to have it all released. I am not sure why he did not realize that sooner.
17 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
earlybird 11/18/2025 10:45:22 AM (No. 2031367)
What OP said. But CNN still gets its ugly headlines... They never mention protecting the victims.
13 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
FormerDem 11/18/2025 10:50:37 AM (No. 2031370)
They keep hoping to catch him and they are just wrong. Again. RussiaRussiaRussia. Meantime, what about the Sudan? What about Nigeria? What is the truth about house prices? What is the truth about COVID? Is the IRGC falling? Will Hamas disarm? It is an interesting world and they are stuck in a scavenger hunt for lil weapons against a political enemy of theirs who actually means well toward the whole world. Might make mistakes but he is not the problem.
9 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
MsMontana 11/18/2025 10:50:39 AM (No. 2031371)
Oh whatever, Trump has been trolling the left over it the whole time, just like he did with his tax returns. The left whined and whined and whined, making a federal case out of it, and then when he had to turn them over for all the nasty busybodies who think they had the right to demand them, it all turned out to be a big fat nothing burger.
Leftist have egg on their face again and they're trying to spin it and pretend they made Trump give in.
Have fun choking down air.
16 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
justjoe1237 11/18/2025 10:55:16 AM (No. 2031376)
MAGA support for Trump is crumbling. The low turnout of Republican voters in the last elections is one indication. I was enthusiastically MAGA, and voted for Trump three times. His base has not turned away from him, he has turned away from his base.
He turned away when he promised to release the Epstein files his first day in office, and has been suppressing them ever since using obvious lies. MAGA supported him precisely because they thought he was not a politician who would lie to them.
He turned away when he began lying that the economy was booming, there was no inflation, grocery costs were low, along with gasoline. He turned away when he accepted a half-billion dollar aircraft from Qatar, and then, in turn, gave them permission to open an air base of their own in Idaho. He gave permission to a known sponsor of terrorism to open an air base on American soil! He turned away when he demolished the west wing of the White House to build= of all things – a frivolous ballroom for billionaires. I could go on.
And I have not mentioned his outright failures. He promised to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office. It has been almost a year, and it rages worse than ever. He ridiculed anyone who criticized his tariffs, and now has had to go back and undo them because of their inflationary effect.
I will be flamed as a troll, and I understand that. So long as I am a troll, you don't have to seriously consider what I have said. And I understand that too. We are in a dark place. The Democrats are an abomination, and if they take power, our country is doomed. We can't let go of the man we thought was the savior of America. But the hard truth is that he is not. He is a con man.
I'm sorry, to have to say that. And.I don't have answers to what we need to do right now. But I know that the course we are on with Trump is a catastrophe building steam..
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Starboard_side 11/18/2025 11:05:30 AM (No. 2031381)
More spin from the Clown News Network attempting to set this up as a WIN or a LOSS.
Trump has not objected to releasing the Epstein files, but there are Democrat judges who won't release Grand Jury testimony.
Already Larry Summers has resigned in disgrace from his Ivy League job, and I suspect a number of other Democrats will be finding their names in the press pertaining to this person and their connections to him.
One person you won't find is President Trump.
14 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
marbles 11/18/2025 11:24:50 AM (No. 2031386)
# 15 I don't know what Trump knows. I do know that we are being brought back from the planned destruction of America as founded by the biden/ dem years.
P.S. It's the east wing not the west
19 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
janjan 11/18/2025 11:33:06 AM (No. 2031392)
This is a stupid distraction that Trump shouldn’t be wasting his time on. The Democrats have never cared about these files and are only using them now to insinuate something about Trump that they know is false. This tactic isn’t new or original. Release the damned files and let everyone have their little taste of dirt that will lead to zero consequences like every other evil in that Godforsaken town. Vindicate Trump once again and move on.
8 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 11/18/2025 11:35:33 AM (No. 2031397)
#15, your "MAGA" support must be like Marjorie Taylor Greene's support/loyalty. It is my understanding that Jamie Raskin is inviting MTG to become a Democrat. As for the ballroom, he is financing it out of his own pocket. I think it is very gracious. I guess your support is like a chameleon. Sounds like it is a fleeting thing. I never once expected Donald Trump to fix things right away that the Barack Obama or Joe Biden administrations broke. Things are going to take time. Of course, Donald Trump is sticking by his vaccine solution - it was Joe Biden and his mandates that made it idiotic. I won't call you a troll but some of your views are reckless and irresponsible. Please go ahead and vote for a Democrat next time. . .
30 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Catherine 11/18/2025 11:38:59 AM (No. 2031399)
Oh I think this is a set up. Trump sat back and let democrats whine and complain, pound the table with demanding the Epstein files and he kept holding back. He planned to release them in his own good time. I suspect way more people than we can imagine will have their names in those files. Get the popcorn.
20 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Kate318 11/18/2025 11:39:17 AM (No. 2031400)
Spin that new development, Adam! Wheeeee!!!
4 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
bighambone 11/18/2025 11:42:19 AM (No. 2031402)
Reportedly after Trump found out that Epstein was messing around with underage females Trump kicked Epstein out of his Mar-Largo property and banned Epstein from that property. What does that tell you?
18 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
justjoe1237 11/18/2025 11:59:33 AM (No. 2031405)
#19 "Please go ahead and vote for a Democrat next time. . ."
You didn't understand one thing that I said.
3 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
Mizz Fixxit 11/18/2025 12:02:08 PM (No. 2031408)
Epstein Epstein Epstein is the new Russia Russia Russia! OP is correct. President Trump played this beautifully.
11 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 11/18/2025 12:23:43 PM (No. 2031411)
So many mind readers in the MFM.
3 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
vinegrower 11/18/2025 12:28:33 PM (No. 2031412)
#23 We understood everything you said. But your assessment of Donald Trump sounds like an MSNBC host.
18 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
red1066 11/18/2025 12:33:26 PM (No. 2031414)
Exactly #1. Those files have been around for quite some time, yet all during the first Trump term and Biteme's term, nothing was ever released. I wonder why that is?
7 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
thefield 11/18/2025 12:36:28 PM (No. 2031415)
It is more fun when CNN leads the charge.
1 person likes this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
Noj15 11/18/2025 12:38:14 PM (No. 2031416)
#15 = zero votes...
6 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
justjoe1237 11/18/2025 2:19:32 PM (No. 2031433)
#26 "#23 We understood everything you said. But your assessment of Donald Trump sounds like an MSNBC host."
Please prove me wrong. What did I say that was mistaken?
And regarding zero likes, that's what I expected.
2 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
daisey 11/18/2025 2:46:34 PM (No. 2031439)
Sorry, but I saw it was CNN and stopped reading. I’m truly tired of all the fighting, the lying, the incivility, and over the top rhetoric encouraging violence and attacks on those who don’t share the left’s ideology. I’ll be 80 next year, and I’ve never seen anything like this. And the hate. Families divided. What’s the answer?
7 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 11/18/2025 3:18:45 PM (No. 2031448)
I am not going to get into a nitpicking match with one of the posters here but I have to say there was a reference about billionaires. I have no problem with billionaires, millionaires, or any person who is wealthy. There are so many people out there against wealth and capitalism. I firmly believe people are jealous.
Funny thing about that ballroom. At one of Donald Trump's State of the Union speeches, he had a little boy suffering from a disease accompanied with his dad if my memory serves me well. Just think "a once in a lifetime" event could occur in that ballroom for a person - dare to dream. . .
9 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 11/18/2025 4:04:43 PM (No. 2031468)
#15, #23, & #30: Obviously, you're new here on Lucianne. Site rules state you post once and move on, making repeated posts to refute other poster's thoughts is considered to be "argumentative" and not part of our culture. You're not the first troll to think they can "get us" by repeatedly playing the victim. "Frankly, my dear, we don't give a damn."
16 people like this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 11/18/2025 6:33:48 PM (No. 2031496)
If MTG were to switch parties she would get crushed. I live in her district and voted for her simply because the Democrat alternative was always worse. I don't think she is stupid enough to actually switch but who knows. She is also flirting with losing in the next primary by any halfway decent opponent.
3 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
preciosodrogas 11/18/2025 6:38:43 PM (No. 2031498)
I do not question the Trump/Epstein waste of time, nothing there. My concern is credibility. President Trump got his second term because the dems were so bad. Kamala and waltz, for example. Because of that he received many more votes than because traditional dems voted for him. That's all good. And of course he received MAGA votes, and many of those votes were tied to promises made.#15, points out some obvious, some debatable. President Trump has a slight/s mmm tic to say some stuff that gets him in hot water. He promised to end the Ukraine war on day one . No one would hold his feet to the fire over that promise, but, then he had his chance. He also promised to end wars, now that's a promise to keep. The Epstein files, imho, missteps, a bad one, some vote expected that one would be easy to keep, and it would evidence he keeps his promises. Instead, Bondi and Patel lied, he equivocates. Votes got jerked around. A week ago Laura Ingraham interviewed him and when asked about his H-1B stand he equivocated,, and his body language did not look good. Ms. Ingraham was having none of it, and it was not a good look. The Maxwell situation does not have a good look. From samplings on the net, the question of why she is in prison, and why did Epstein kill himself, and why did fka Prince Andrew get an English excommunication for his involvement are still oozing like a boil on the body. They may only be cuts, and boiled, they add up. If he had another term I wouldn't worry about, but he doesn't. And those being considered are not that strong, this past election suggests.
2 people like this.
Reply 36 - Posted by:
Noj15 11/18/2025 7:47:14 PM (No. 2031521)
Please refer to today's cartoon on the home page:
Donkey: "Trump is in the Epstein files!!!!"
Nowhere Close To A Donkey: "It says Epstein HATES Trump!!"
Donkey: "But it MENTIONS Trump!!"
Nowhere Close To A Donkey: *friggin' moron* *snicker*
4 people like this.
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The media idiots are too stupid to realize that Trump plays them like the fools they are. He lets their TDS hoaxes run until they are fully invested in the BS, then turns the tables on them and make them look like the imbecilic morons the are.