The background to this has been ongoing demands for months, including from parts of Trump’s MAGA movement (Make America Great Again), to publish all files on the Epstein scandal. Trump denies having closer ties with his former neighbor in Florida. However, recently published emails and documents suggest the opposite, and numerous videos and photos from earlier years show the two millionaires together.
In his online post on Friday, Trump called his longtime staunch supporter Taylor Greene a “ranting lunatic” and claimed Georgia voters are “fed up with her and her antics.” If a Republican challenges Greene to run again for the House of Representatives and “the right person runs, they will have my full and unwavering support,” he said. Greene, on the other hand, has drifted “far to the left.”
“I do not worship or serve Donald Trump,” Greene responded to the president’s announcement on the online service X. Trump is attacking her as punishment and as a warning to other Republicans because she supports efforts to release the Epstein files.
Greene has been known for years as a staunch and unwavering Trump supporter. In March, during a Trump speech to Congress, she wore a cap with the inscription “Trump was right about everything.” In the past few months, however, the Republican has deviated from the official party line several times.
The MP was particularly vocal as a campaigner for the full release of the Epstein files. Most recently, she supported an initiative by the opposition Democrats to have the House of Representatives vote next week on the demand for the files to be published.
“And of course he’s coming after me now to make an example and scare all the other Republicans before the vote next week,” Green commented on Trump’s actions on Friday evening. “It’s amazing how hard he fights to stop the release of the Epstein files, even going so far.”
Convicted sex offender Epstein was found hanging in his New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting another trial. According to authorities, he committed suicide. According to the investigation, Epstein had abused underage girls and young women for years and passed them on to celebrities. Many US citizens and right-wing influencers suspect that the former financial investor was murdered to prevent him from coming forward against prominent accomplices.
In the past few days, further emails from Epstein have been published. In it, the millionaire wrote, among other things, that Trump was aware of the abuse of minors: “Of course he knew about the girls,” it said in an email from January 2019. In addition, Trump, who was Epstein’s neighbor in Florida for years, spent “hours” with the abuse victim Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre committed suicide in April.
The US House of Representatives plans to pass a bipartisan motion next week to force the government to release all Epstein files. Surviving Epstein victims and Giuffre’s relatives appealed to MPs in an open letter on Friday to show their colors. “There is no middle ground on this issue,” it said: “You cannot hide behind your party affiliation.”
Trump has so far shown no willingness to release the Epstein files, although he had promised to do so in the past. Instead, he called on the Justice Department and the FBI on Friday to investigate Epstein’s ties to former President Bill Clinton and “many other people and institutions.” Justice Minister Pam Bondi then immediately ordered an investigation.
