Risky vote ahead for president after his failure to halt release of files

Donald Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files after attempts to press two female members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.

- Robert Tait

The reported refusal of Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative from Colorado, and Nancy Mace, from South Carolina, to remove their names from a discharge petition to force a vote leaves Trump exposed on an issue that carries the possibility of turning segments of his Maga base against him.

Boebert reportedly stood firm on supporting the petition after being invited by Trump to the White House in an effort to persuade her to withdraw her signature, according to the New York Times.

The outlet reported that the meeting happened hours after Democrats on the House of Representatives’ oversight committee released a trove of emails from the files that suggested that Trump may have known more about Epstein’s underage sex trafficking activities than he previously acknowledged.

The disgraced late financier - who committed suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial - wrote in one email that Trump, his former close friend, “knew about the girls”.

The New York Times reported that the White House sought to persuade Boebert to change her mind - enlisting Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and the FBI director, Kash Patel - before issuing “vague threats” when the tactic did not work.