AS POLITICAL U-TURNS go, this was a pretty spectacular one. President Donald Trump, having long resisted the release of files pertaining to the late disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and having demanded that the Republican congressional leadership back him to the hilt, abruptly decided that it was time to let go.

Notably, during his third campaign for the White House, he had pledged to make public all these documents and won plaudits from many on the hard right of the GOP for transparency, yet at some stage, for some reason, he reneged. The newly-elected president adopted a “nothing to see here” attitude and urged the conservative faithful to move on.

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Mike Johnson, having bent the knee to the man who has commanded absolute loyalty from office-holding Republicans for a decade, quickly reversed course. The matter was put to the House and the Senate. There was a single dissenting member in the US Congress.

The president has now signed the bill and the documents will soon be available for dissection. Those anticipating or hoping for a “smoking gun” that will engender the ruin of Trump will probably be disappointed. It is hard to imagine that, if there were anything devastating, it would not have emerged previously. There is also wiggle room that could aid Attorney General Pam Bondi in protecting her boss.

A demonstrator holds a poster calling for the release on all of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

It was a sense that the tide was turning against him that precipitated Trump’s change of heart. His inner circle became fully aware that Republicans were increasingly getting it in the neck from constituents. They were furious that those who they placed their sacred trust in would countenance shielding the elites who they are sure will be implicated in the Epstein files. Notwithstanding the pressure they were feeling from the top, lots of them intended to vote for the enabling legislation sponsored by four of their party colleagues.

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It is significant that among the vocal champions of those who survived the abuse perpetrated by Jeffrey........

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