House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Donald Trump this week after the president repeatedly used the word “hoax” when asked about Jeffrey Epstein. Johnson argued Trump was not dismissing Epstein’s crimes but rather the political attacks tied to them.
“What Trump is referring to is the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him,” Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju on Thursday. “He has never said or suggested or implied—I’ve talked to him about this many times, many times. He is horrified. It’s been misrepresented.
He’s not saying that what Epstein did is a hoax. It’s a terrible, unspeakable evil. He believes that himself. When he first heard the rumor, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.”
When asked to clarify, Johnson’s office told the Daily Beast that he was echoing what one victim’s attorney had said: “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.”
Trump’s Ties to Epstein
Epstein faced a sex trafficking indictment in 2006, but Trump only barred him from Mar-a-Lago after more than a year, according to The Grifter’s Club: Trump, Mar-a-Lago, and the Selling of the Presidency. In 2007, Epstein received a plea deal criticized as a slap on the wrist. At the time, then-U.S. attorney Alex Acosta said he had been told Epstein “belonged to intelligence.” Acosta later served as Trump’s Secretary of Labor.
Trump has previously described his falling out with Epstein as stemming from disputes over Mar-a-Lago employees. “When I heard about it, I told him, I said: ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people… I don’t want you to take our people.’ And he was fine, and then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said: ‘Out of here!’” Trump said in July. At that time, he made no mention of being an FBI informant.
Victims Seek Files, Johnson Blames Democrats
Johnson’s comments came just a day after Epstein’s victims pressed lawmakers to release government files on the late financier. Johnson insisted Trump sympathizes with those victims.
“The president knows and has great sympathy for the women who have suffered these unspeakable harms. It is detestable to him,” Johnson said. He added that Trump “hates what Epstein is accused of and who he was” and had distanced himself once he realized the extent of Epstein’s crimes.
Johnson concluded by saying Trump’s “hoax” remarks were about political attacks, not Epstein’s abuse. “I think he’s being falsely accused and maligned, and that’s a frustration of all of ours,” he said. “That’s what he’s talking about when he says the hoax.”