Trump takes a gamble that Epstein files can't hurt him

Europeans woke to the news yesterday that Donald Trump had executed one of the sharpest U-turns of his presidency and is now arguing that Republicans should vote to release the so-called Epstein files.

- MARY DEJEVSKY

His decision followed months in which he had resisted calls to release the files, which are lodged in the Department of Justice, and after a week in which he had turned against one of his hitherto closest Republican allies, the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, calling her “wacky” and a “traitor” for demanding the files’ release.

He explained the change by saying that the issue had become a distraction from the Republican Party’s work (which is true), and because “we have nothing to hide” (which remains to be seen).

U-turns are hardly unheard of in Trumpworld, nor is their unapologetic execution. Recent precedents include his attitude to Ukraine and his continual flip-flopping on trade tariffs, and it has been said that he simply adopts the view of the last person he spoke to.

After his latest reversal, however, the central questions are why, and why now. After all, if he had nothing to hide, why did he not support the release of the files before the issue became a weapon in the hands of congressional Democrats and gained a political head of steam? He could have saved himself - and stalwart allies-turned-enemies such as Taylor Greene - a lot of trouble.