Donald Trump is reportedly gearing up for a political counteroffensive after Congress voted almost unanimously to force the release of the Epstein files, a move that left the White House scrambling to regain control of the narrative.
Reporting from Politico indicates that inside the West Wing, officials admit the administration is “on its back foot” following the vote, but they are promising an aggressive wave of attacks aimed at Democrats. One White House official issued a blunt warning: “The Democrats are going to come to regret this,” the official said, before adding, “Let’s start with Stacey Plaskett. You think we’re not going to make a scene of this?”
Another insider struck a similar tone. “President Trump has nothing to hide, but the Democrats should be very scared because they have secrets to hide,” the source said, signaling that the White House intends to turn the Epstein fallout into a political weapon, even as Trump himself remains under scrutiny for his long association with Epstein.
The move comes at a particularly vulnerable moment for Trump. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act with overwhelming bipartisan support, ordering the Justice Department to make public a sweeping collection of records related to Epstein within 30 days. The House voted 427 to 1, and the Senate approved it by unanimous consent, sending the bill to Trump despite months of resistance from his administration. Under the law, the DOJ must release nearly all Epstein related documents, with only limited redactions allowed.
Trump has tried to frame his sudden support for the bill as a sign of openness, urging Republicans to support the measure and insisting “we have nothing to hide.” But inside his political orbit, the vote was seen as a major defeat, the moment Republican lawmakers stopped shielding him on a scandal that has long unnerved his base.
Stacey Plaskett appears to be at the center of Trump’s planned response. The U.S. Virgin Islands delegate has already become a lightning rod for Republicans after records revealed she exchanged text messages with Epstein around the time of a 2019 House hearing involving Michael Cohen. GOP efforts to censure her failed this week, but the attacks are expected to intensify as part of the White House’s renewed focus on the issue.
Whether Trump’s revenge campaign will resonate remains unclear. Politico describes the coming blitz as a test of whether Trump still has the political muscle to intimidate opponents and keep Republicans in line, especially as questions mount over whether he is entering a lame duck period in his presidency.
Democrats, for their part, seem ready to respond as they are increasingly highlighting Trump’s own past ties to Epstein, including the resurfaced 2003 “birthday book” letter that referenced a “wonderful secret” shared between the two men, a note Trump now says is fake.
A Democratic National Committee official responded to Trump’s latest threat with a pointed jab, asking whether his new strategy “finally includes sharing what ‘wonderful secret’ he kept with Jeffrey Epstein.”
For now, the White House is talking tough and signaling a scorched earth approach. But with bipartisan support for releasing the files, rising skepticism within Trump’s own party, and national polling that shows most Americans disapprove of his handling of the issue, turning this into a one sided attack on Democrats may prove far more difficult than the president hopes.
