The truth behind Trump’s dramatic late-night Epstein file reversal: It wasn’t a gamble, it was a tactic… and White House insiders say it’s Democrats who will pay the price

President Donald Trump‘s sudden pivot on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files was not an impulsive gamble but a tactical move to end a months-long drama that has consumed the White House and Congress.

Trump raged at reporters on Sunday night in Palm Beach as he walked to Air Force One, berating them for asking about the convicted sex offender instead of lowering living costs for Americans.

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ Trump snapped, blasting ‘fake news like you’ and the ‘terrible reporter’ who dared to raise the subject.

Within minutes, though, and before Trump reached the steps of his plane, the political reality that he would lose the vote to release evidence on the disgraced financier began to sink in.

Trump spent the one-hour and 48-minute flight back to Washington conferring with press secretary Karoline Leavitt on how to navigate a week that would be consumed by Epstein coverage, Daily Mail has learned.

In a sudden shift, Trump said Sunday night that ‘House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files.’

But White House insiders have told the Daily Mail that the move by Trump wasn’t a U-turn, but a calculated move to expose senior Democrats and his critics who had links to Epstein.

President Donald Trump snapped at reporters before boarding Air Force One on Sunday night as he was grilled over the ‘Epstein files’ – shortly before he U-turned and told Republicans to vote to vote to release them

White House insiders say Trum ‘s sudden pivot on releasing the Epstein files was not an impulsive gamble, but a tactical move to end a months-long drama that has consumed the White House and Congress

Now the House is expected to vote to release the Department of Justice’s full trove of Epstein files on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaker Mike Johnson and senior Republican leaders in the House have not been able to stop their colleagues from breaking ranks and voting with Democrats.

Investigators are believed to be sitting on more than 100,000 pages connected to Epstein, but Trump insisted Monday that ‘we’ve already given 50,000 pages — no matter what we give, it’s never enough.’

Democrats hope embarrassing material about Trump could be included in the files, even though the president has never been officially accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and insists he fell out with him years ago.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday: ‘We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do – all of his friends were Democrats.’

‘I believe that many of the people that we, some of the people that we mentioned are being looked at very seriously for their relationship to Jeffrey Epstein, but they were with him all the time. I wasn’t. I wasn’t at all, and we’ll see what happens,’ he added.

When asked if he would sign a bill authorizing the release of the files if it reached his desk, he said, ‘Sure I would.’

Republicans including Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene (left) and Thomas Massie (right) have broken with Trump in recent weeks to demand the release of the Epstein files