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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has defended President Donald Trump amid a backlash over newly released Jeffrey Epstein emails that have raised fresh questions about Trump's relationship with the convicted sex offender and how much he knew about Epstein's behavior.
Greene, a MAGA firebrand, accused Democrats of pushing "smears" against the president. The Georgia congresswoman is one of only four Republicans who signed a discharge petition to force a House vote on releasing the Epstein investigation files, demanding full transparency.
Trump has dismissed the issue as a "hoax" perpetrated against him by Democrats and urged his supporters to move on. The vote on the files is now expected to take place next week.
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FOLLOW NEWSWEEK'S LIVE COVERAGE OF THE EPSTEIN FILES FALLOUT
Trump and his officials entered office promising the MAGA base to release all the Epstein files. Many in Trump's Make America Great Again movement believe the federal government has withheld the full truth about Epstein's activities and his elite network of powerful contacts, and they have been angered by the administration's handling of the files' release, especially the delay.
"Democrats keep trying to paint President Trump as if he was involved in these horrific acts, but the victims themselves have said he was NOT!" Greene wrote on X on Thursday. "This shouldn't be about political smears. It should be about justice."
Greene said, "The Epstein files MUST be released! Every name, every page, every connection."
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Epstein Emails Name Trump
The latest tranche of emails, released by House Oversight Democrats, includes Epstein saying that Trump "knew about the girls."
Epstein also wrote of Trump that he could "take him down." The disgraced financier wrote in one email that he had photos of "Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen." In another, Epstein wrote, "i know how dirty donald is." He also said one of his accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, "spent hours at my house with" Trump.
"It's more critical now than ever that the Department of Justice release the full files," said Representative Robert Garcia, the top House Oversight Democrat, in a statement after the release of the emails. "We need to know exactly what happened, what does Donald Trump know, and what is he hiding."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Democrats "selectively" released the emails to "create a fake narrative to smear President Trump."
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Democrats "are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they'll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they've done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap."
Nancy Mace Says Trump 'Exonerated'
The four House Republicans who signed the Epstein files discharge petition were Greene and Representatives Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace.
Mace also wrote on social media that Trump had been "exonerated by Epstein victims," though she defied pressure from the White House to remove her name from the petition. According to reports by Axios and The New York Times, citing unnamed people familiar with the efforts, Trump and his team reached out to both Mace and Boebert.
"I stand with all survivors," Mace wrote on X. "When it seems like the world is against you. When the press hates your guts. When your friends desert you. Your pain is my pain. Your fight is my fight. Your justice is our justice. God bless all those who never had a fighting chance. The Epstein vote will be for you too."
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