House Speaker Mike Johnson is working to clarify his explosive claim that President Donald Trump acted as an FBI informant against Jeffrey Epstein. His original remarks set off confusion and criticism after he made the assertion without providing evidence or context.
The controversy began Thursday when Johnson defended Trump’s repeated dismissal of investigations into Epstein as a “hoax.” Johnson told reporters, “He’s not saying that what Epstein did is a hoax. It’s a terrible, unspeakable evil. He believes that himself.” Johnson then added, “He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.”
That comment prompted follow-up questions from CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday. Johnson quickly attempted to revise his words. “Alright, alright, I know,” he said. “What I was referring to in that long conversation was what the victims’ attorney said. More than a decade ago, President Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago. He was one of the only people, or the only prominent people … that he was willing to help law enforcement go after this guy.”
Johnson continued, “So the president was helpful in that. I don’t know if I used the right terminology, but that’s common knowledge, and everybody knows that. So this is much ado about nothing.”
When pressed directly, Johnson denied that Trump himself had told him he was an informant. “No! And I said I was recounting what others have said,” he responded. The 53-year-old Louisiana Republican also dismissed speculation about whether Trump had been asked to wear a wire, saying, “I was not breaking news there, OK? What I’m trying to emphasize is that the president is as disgusted about this as everyone is.”
Johnson’s office previously issued a statement to The Daily Beast attempting to smooth over the issue. “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,” a spokesperson said.
The uproar over Johnson’s comments came as Epstein’s accusers spoke on Capitol Hill. About a dozen survivors described the abuse they endured at the hands of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Brad Edwards, a longtime lawyer for several victims, said Trump had helped him with his 2009 investigation into Epstein. “He didn’t think it was a hoax then,” Edwards said, though he stopped short of confirming Trump had aided law enforcement as Johnson suggested.
Meanwhile, survivors are pressing Congress to release all Epstein files. Rep. Thomas Massie has filed a discharge petition to force a vote on his Epstein Files Transparency Act. While Democrats largely back the measure, only a handful of Republicans have signed on. GOP leaders have instead advanced a narrower resolution directing the House Oversight Committee to continue its probe.
Massie criticized the leadership’s approach, calling it “a bill that does nothing, and then tries to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people.”