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Why is Trump changing his stance on the Epstein files · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: In a reversal of his month's long opposition to the
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  Speaker 1: release of information related to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,
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  Speaker 1: President Trump is now encouraging House Republicans to vote yes
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  Speaker 1: to release the files related to his case. House GOP
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  Speaker 1: leaders are planning to vote tomorrow on legislation that would
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  Speaker 1: force the full release of the Justice Department's files on Epstein.
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  Speaker 1: In a post last night, the President wrote, quote, House
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  Speaker 1: Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we
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  Speaker 1: have nothing to hide and it's time to move on
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  Speaker 1: from this democratic hoax. He went on to write that
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  Speaker 1: the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally
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  Speaker 1: entitled to. When asked about the vote last night, the
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  Speaker 1: President attacked Republicans who support the release and insisted that
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  Speaker 1: the files are being used as a distraction.
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  Speaker 2: Guy like Massey. His full numbers are showing, he said,
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  Speaker 2: six percent approval writing right now. And we call him
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  Speaker 2: Ran Paul Junior because he never votes for the Republican Party.
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  Speaker 2: So the using Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the
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  Speaker 2: tremendous success that we're having as a party.
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  Speaker 1: We have team coverage with CBS News Congressional correspondent Nicole
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  Speaker 1: Killyon on Capitol Hill and CBS News Chief White House
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  Speaker 1: Correspondent Nancy Cortez. Nancy, let's start with you. What could
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  Speaker 1: be behind this change of heart for President Trump.
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  Speaker 3: I think it could be a couple of things, lindsay.
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  Speaker 3: First of all, he probably sees the writing on the
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  Speaker 3: wall that while there were only a handful of House
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  Speaker 3: Republicans who signed on to this discharge petition to force
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  Speaker 3: a vote on the House floor over releasing these Epstein files,
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  Speaker 3: there are more House Republicans now coming forward and saying, hey,
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  Speaker 3: as long as it's coming up for a vote, they're
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  Speaker 3: going to vote in favor of it too. And so
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  Speaker 3: it was clear that the President's preferred position was not
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  Speaker 3: going to win the day. And so this may be
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  Speaker 3: just an acknowledgment that if you can't beat them, join them.
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  Speaker 3: The challenge for the President will be if this now
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  Speaker 3: sparks more interest in the Senate to take a vote
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  Speaker 3: to release the Epstein files, then was there before Now
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  Speaker 3: that they see that, oh, the President himself is on
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  Speaker 3: board as well. And then I think the second thing
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  Speaker 3: is that there's a growing recognition here at the White
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  Speaker 3: House that it's going to be very difficult for them
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  Speaker 3: to put this issue to rest, to put it behind
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  Speaker 3: them until and unless these Epstein files are released, And
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  Speaker 3: so if that's the case, perhaps coming around to accept
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  Speaker 3: a release sooner rather than later might be the best
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  Speaker 3: option for them.
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  Speaker 1: And the President has also called on the Justice Department
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  Speaker 1: and FBI to investigate multiple high profile Democrats over alleged
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  Speaker 1: involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. What do we know about that?
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  Speaker 3: That's right, the President called for that at the end
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  Speaker 3: of last week. His Attorney General quickly said, yes, we'll do,
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  Speaker 3: mister President, and she assigned the US Attorney from the
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  Speaker 3: Southern District of New York to begin that investigation, despite
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  Speaker 3: the fact that her Department of Justice and the FBI
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  Speaker 3: announced just a few months ago that there was nothing
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  Speaker 3: more to look into, no unindicted co conspirators in this case,
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  Speaker 3: and that the matter was being put to rest. So
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  Speaker 3: that has now changed, and what remains to be seen
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  Speaker 3: is a how far will these investigations go. Will they
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  Speaker 3: really start probing former President Bill Clinton's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?
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  Speaker 3: Larry Summers, former president of Harvard.
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  Speaker 4: Are we going to be looking into his relationship with
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  Speaker 4: Epstein or are they merely paying lip service to it
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  Speaker 4: knowing that it's something that the President of the United
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  Speaker 4: States said publicly that he wants.
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  Speaker 1: President Trump ended up fiery social media post saying he
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  Speaker 1: wants Republicans to focus on affordability. What can we expect there, Well, he.
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  Speaker 3: Is talking about it more. He's going to be talking
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  Speaker 3: about it this evening with a group of McDonald's store owners.
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  Speaker 3: And there are a couple of policies that he has
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  Speaker 3: been pushing in that Vein. Number one, he's been talking
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  Speaker 3: about wanting to send two thousand dollars tariff checks to
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  Speaker 3: low and middle income Americans. We don't know exactly where
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  Speaker 3: that stands. His economic advisors say that they're looking into
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  Speaker 3: the options and they're going to present those options to
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  Speaker 3: him soon. And then we saw a rollback of tariffs
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  Speaker 3: on goods from around the world that aren't made here
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  Speaker 3: in the United States or grown here in the United States,
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  Speaker 3: or even if they are, they are produced in very
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  Speaker 3: small numbers. We're talking about things like bananas and avocados
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  Speaker 3: and coffee, where we had seen a big spike in
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  Speaker 3: the cost of those goods. Because Americans need to buy
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  Speaker 3: virtually all of them from overseas, and now the Trump
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  Speaker 3: administration says they're going to be rolling back some of
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  Speaker 3: those tariffs in a bid to get those prices back down.
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  Speaker 1: Nancy, thank you, cbsu's congressional corresponding Nicole Kelly, and joins
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  Speaker 1: us now on Capitol Hill. So, Nicole walk us through
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  Speaker 1: what the Ebstein Files Transparency Act would entail and what
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  Speaker 1: we can expect with this vote.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah. Well, this is a basic discharge petition, which is
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  Speaker 5: really as opposed to a piece of legislation that goes
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  Speaker 5: through the normal process of going through a committee before
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  Speaker 5: it hits the floor for a vote. In this case,
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  Speaker 5: this is kind of a worker round where a vote
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  Speaker 5: is more or less forced on the issue. And so basically,
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  Speaker 5: this act would compel the Justice Department to fully release
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  Speaker 5: the Epstein file. So that is what this vote will
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  Speaker 5: be on Tuesday, pushing the Justice Department to make these
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  Speaker 5: files public. Obviously, the Department has already provided many of
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  Speaker 5: these documents to Congress since the House Oversight Committee is investigating.
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  Speaker 5: But at this point you have bipartisan lawmakers who want
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  Speaker 5: these files in full, and so that's what this legislation
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  Speaker 5: would do if it passes.
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  Speaker 1: And President Trump has lashed out as we heard it Republicans,
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  Speaker 1: Thomas Massey, also Marjorie Taylor Green over this, several GOP
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  Speaker 1: members indicating they will vote for the release. So how
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  Speaker 1: does this highlight a split in the Republican Party.
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  Speaker 5: Well, obviously, we've seen a divide for some time now
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  Speaker 5: over this issue, and as Nancy pointed out, only a
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  Speaker 5: handful of Republicans actually signed onto this discharge petition. But
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  Speaker 5: Congressman Massey, who is the publican co sponsor of it,
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  Speaker 5: has said he believes that one hundred House Republicans or
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  Speaker 5: more could ultimately vote in favor of this. So really
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  Speaker 5: there has been from the outset bipartisan support for additional
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  Speaker 5: transparency around this issue, and also in the Senate that
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  Speaker 5: really is kind of the bigger issue at this stage,
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  Speaker 5: because should this measure Claire the House, then the question
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  Speaker 5: will be will the Senate take this up or will
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  Speaker 5: they try to squash it. They haven't shown a lot
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  Speaker 5: of enthusiasm to take it up, although Democrats certainly are
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  Speaker 5: likely to push for a vote in the Senate should
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  Speaker 5: it clear the House, So it remains to be seen.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Nicole Killy, and thank you