US Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. Photo / Getty Images
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson today backed off his claim that United States President Donald Trump was an FBI informant in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
While Trump has said that he kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, his members-only club in Florida, he has also recently called the latest demands for the release of more information on the Epstein case a “Democrat hoax that never ends”.
Last week, Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill that Trump cares deeply about the crimes Epstein committed and said that Trump “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down”.
Today, his office released a statement modifying that claim.
“The Speaker is reiterating what the victims’ attorney said, which is that Donald Trump - who kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago - was the only one more than a decade ago willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein for being a disgusting child predator,” the statement from Johnson’s office read.
Trump and Epstein were one-time friends who had a falling out, particularly after a fight between the two in 2004 over buying an oceanfront property in Palm Beach, Florida, which Trump went on to win.
Democrats and a small number of Republicans are pushing for the passage of legislation, called the Epstein Files Transparency Act, that would compel the Trump Administration to release more documents about Epstein and his sex trafficking operation.
About a dozen of Epstein’s accusers gave emotional testimony last week outside the United States Capitol about the abuse they suffered from Epstein and his jailed associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
During the event, Brad Edwards, a lawyer who represents many of the victims, told reporters that Trump has done an “about-face” on Epstein since 2009.
Edwards said that when he spoke to Trump in 2009, Trump was “friendly” to the victims’ plight, and “did not think that it was a hoax and was trying to help”.
“And now it seems like all of a sudden somebody is in his ear, and he’s not,” Edwards said. “So, I’m hoping he’ll come back to where he was back in 2009, be on the side of the victims and stand with us.”
Edwards did not say whether Trump co-operated with investigators in 2009, but he did note that Trump “helped” his efforts against Epstein at the time.
“He got on the phone, he told me things that were helping our investigation,” Edwards said. “Our investigation wasn’t looking into him, but he was helping us then.”
Edwards’s office didn’t respond today to a request for comment.
The White House insisted in a statement today that Trump “has always been committed to justice and transparency for these victims”.
“That’s why the Trump Administration is releasing thousands of pages of documents and complying with Oversight requests,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, referring to the inquiry being conducted by the House Oversight Committee.
Jackson alleged that Democrats “ignored Epstein’s victims for years and are now only interested in them as a way to attack President Trump”.
Spokespeople from the Department of Justice and the FBI did not respond to requests for comment.
Last week many of the victims said that hearing Trump brush off their abuse as a “hoax” was devastating, and several repeatedly insisted the issue is not a partisan one.
“This is not a hoax,” Haley Robson, who noted she is a registered Republican, said. “This is real trauma.”
Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican who is a co-sponsor of the proposed legislation, said today that he didn’t know whether Trump was an FBI informant.
“The lawyers for the victim said that Donald Trump had been helpful in 2009 in their case by giving them information. But being an informant implies some formal connection and ongoing relationship with the FBI,” Massie said on the ABC. “I think the speaker needs to clarify that. And if it’s a hoax, why was Donald Trump an informant to a hoax?”
Only three other House Republicans have joined Massie’s effort to force the House to vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Almost all Democrats have signed the petition.
Representative Nancy Mace (South Carolina), one of those three Republicans, also has defended Trump, posting on X last week that Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.
“President Trump is the one who co-operated with the feds to get this guy,” she wrote. “President Trump is the one who is COMMITTED to protecting women and kids.”
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