Republicans are breaking from President Donald Trump, and the GOP is bracing for "mass defections" over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, CNN reported Thursday.
"They are bracing for mass defections from the White House," CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju said.
A vote is expected early next week on the discharge petition that would prompt the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.
"But there are still a number of questions. And I'll tell you, I talked to a number of Trump allies who have told me that they are perplexed by the White House's response to this, that there is a lot of confusion as to why it is that they are putting this out there in bits and pieces, or allowing this to be essentially something that they are on the fence about instead of the offense," CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said.
"And I do just want to point out Manu's interviews there," she added. "That is absolutely stunning when it comes to this administration. You almost never see a break like that from what the administration is wanting. And members of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill pushing back in those kind of numbers."
The White House has downplayed the newly released emails and referred to them as a "distraction" as the government reopened Wednesday after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a new batch of emails Thursday, followed by 20,000 documents total from the Republican-led panel.