Edward Luce on how pre-poll promises on Epstein Files landed Trump in a tough spot | HTLS 2025

Chief U.S. Commentator in Financial Times, Edward Luce, at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025, said the unresolved “Epstein files” have become a major political vulnerability for Donald Trump, especially because Trump himself once framed them as proof of a deep‑state cover‑up under Biden. Now back in office, Trump is doing everything he can to block their release, putting him in what Luce calls a “jam of his own making”: if the files really proved his innocence, it’s bizarre to fight so hard to suppress them, and his own base will not easily accept this reversal.