Trump Says ‘Some of the Dumber Republicans’ Want the Epstein Files Released

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump hit back at members of Congress who voted to release information surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, telling reporters that their goal was “to waste people’s time, and some of the dumber Republicans like that.”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, the president was asked about the members of his party who chose to join their Democratic colleagues in signing a petition to release a trove of emails to and from Epstein on Wednesday. Four Republican House members signed on, including Reps. Marjory Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Nancy Mace (R-SC).

Trump reportedly called both Mace and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who also signed the petition, to pressure them into dropping their support for the release.

“Why was your team encouraging Congresswoman Boebert and Congresswoman Mace to not pursue this?” a reporter asked the president.

“Because we think it’s bad to talk about it,” said the president.

He continued:

Because it gets away from the subject of how well Republicans are doing. We have the greatest economy. We have the largest investment ever made in our country’s history. We have all of these great things happen. We have very little inflation whereas he [former President Joe Biden] had record setting, the biggest inflation in history. All of these things are good, and when you talk about the Epstein hoax what happens is you’re not talking about how well we’ve done. That’s the whole purpose behind that. They want to waste people’s time and some of the dumber Republicans like that.

Trump quickly clarified his comments, adding that those who are pushing the story are “mostly Democrats.”

The president also attacked members of his party on the subject of Epstein earlier in the day, posting on Truth Social that Republicans who signed the release were “soft and foolish.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) responded to the insults later that morning, maintaining that “the American people deserve to see transparency from their government.”