(NewsNation) — Speaker Mike Johnson has claimed that President Donald Trump was an FBI informant in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Johnson made the shocking remark Friday when a reporter asked him about the president dubbing the Epstein scandal “the Democrat Epstein Hoax.”
“What Trump is referring to is the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him,” Johnson said.
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“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 went on to say, “He was 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.”
Trump has yet to comment on Johnson’s remarks.
Jeffrey Epstein case fallout
Epstein killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
The House Oversight Committee released more than 30,000 documents related to the Epstein investigation on Tuesday after meeting with survivors.
The Epstein accusers gathered on Capitol Hill the next day to push for legislation to release all of the documents related to the investigation into the disgraced financier and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
They have vowed to compile their own client list after repeated assertions by the Trump administration that Epstein didn’t keep a client list.
How close were Trump, Epstein? What we know about their friendship
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said if accusers turn over a list, she’ll go to the House floor and reveal “every damn name” they gave her.
“I’m encouraged that this group of brave women is taking it upon themselves, since the government continues to fail them, to compile their own list of Epstein’s enablers and perhaps even co-abusers,” Arick Fudali, who represents 11 Epstein survivors, told NewsNation.
“I look forward to learning more about this endeavor.”
