House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) tried to clarify remarks he made last week about Donald Trump being an informant for the FBI in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill that Trump cares so much about the victims of Epstein crimes that he became “an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.”
“The President knows ― and has great sympathy for the women who suffered these unspeakable harms. It’s detestable to him,” Johnson added.
On Sunday, Johnson’s office released a statement trying to clarify his remarks.
“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, according to the Washington Post.
Trump and Epstein were close friends for years. Trump referred to Epstein as a “terrific guy” while Epstein believed himself to be Trump’s “closest friend.”
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump’s name appeared multiple times in the Epstein files that the administration is refusing to release to the public.
Trump told reporters in July that he and Epstein fell out after he “stole” young girls who worked at his Mar-a-Lago beach club spa.
“He took people, I say ‘don’t do it anymore’, you know they work for me… beyond that, he took some others,” Trump said. “Once he did that, that was the end of him.”
Johnson’s statement on Sunday comes as he is actively encouraging Republican lawmakers to vote against a discharge petition to force the release of the Epstein files. Johnson is siding with the Trump administration who argued that voting to release the files will be viewed as a “very hostile act.”
