In a surprising turn of events, former President Trump urged House Republicans on Sunday night to support a vote to release documents associated with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. This marks a shift from Trump’s previous stance on the matter.

Trump’s call to action comes as a potential vote looms this week, driven by a discharge petition that appears to have garnered significant Republican backing despite his earlier objections.

Expressing his change of heart on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared, “As I mentioned Friday night aboard Air Force One to the Fake News Media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files. We have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move past this Democratic hoax concocted by radical leftists to distract from the Republican Party’s great success, including our recent victory over the Democratic ‘shutdown.'”

The push to release the files gained momentum last Wednesday when Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) added her signature, reaching the necessary 218 signatures to move the initiative forward. Her swearing-in was delayed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) amid the government shutdown, but it eventually proceeded.

Discharge petitions serve as a strategic tool for the minority party to compel a vote on legislation that the House majority seeks to avoid. In this instance, some Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), who has had disagreements with Trump over the Epstein files and other matters, allied with Democrats to advance the discharge petition.

Johnson said the House would vote on the underlying measure forced by the petition this week. Several sponsors, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), predicted dozens of Republicans would vote for it on the floor. Massie specifically predicted 100 GOP members could back it.

Such a scenario would have potentially been embarrasing for Trump and the White House. Calling for the GOP to back the release of the files ahead of the vote saves the president from the harshness of that situation.

If the measure is approved by the House, it would still need to be passed by the Senate and signed by Trump to force the release. Last week, those two steps still seemed in doubt, but Trump’s statement on Sunday suggests they could become reality.

At least 13 GOP senators would likely need to support the measure in the Senate given the filibuster in that chamber.

In recent months, the Trump administration has faced scrutiny from both sides of the aisle over its handling of information related to Epstein.

Pressure grew last week after the release by Democrats of more emails, including one written by Epstein that said Trump “knew about the girls.”

In the hours before Grijalva was sworn into the House last week, Trump and allies reached out to some Republicans who had signed in the discharge petition, in what appeared to be an effort to get them to back down.

The Hill’s sister network NewsNation had previously reported that Trump had called House Republicans in an attempt to have them remove their signatures from the petition, according to a Republican source.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has been leading the discharge petition push with Massie, said in an interview Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that he wanted Trump to “release all these files,” noting it could improve his public perception.

“Someone was saying that his numbers would go up. I don’t care if he gets the political win. There is a group of rich and powerful men who abused young girls,” Khanna added. “It’s the one thing this country agrees was horrible.”