House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday tried to wash up earlier remarks he made claiming that President Donald Trump had been an “FBI informant” in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
“What I was referring to in that long conversation was what the (Epstein) victims’ attorney said,” Johnson instructed reporters. “More than a decade ago, President Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, and he was one of the only people, one of the only prominent people, as everyone has reported … that he was willing to help law enforcement go after this guy who was a disgusting child abuser, sex trafficker, all the allegations. That’s what they heard. So the president was helpful in that.”
The speaker added: “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.”
Some had seized on Johnson’s comments on social media, looking for to color Trump as a hero in relation to the case that has seen heightened nationwide political furor in latest weeks.
Pressed by NCS Monday on whether or not Trump had particularly instructed him about any involvement with legislation enforcement’s investigation of the late convicted intercourse offender, Johnson stated he was “recounting what others have said” however that he and the president have spoken about “the Epstein evils many times.”
Johnson, when requested, stated he had no details about whether or not Trump had ever been requested to put on a wire.
“I was repeating what has been common knowledge for a long time. The president was helpful in trying to get Epstein for the law enforcement to go after Epstein. That’s always been my understanding. That’s common knowledge. It’s the public’s understanding. I didn’t — 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.”
Speaking with reporters on the Capitol final week, Johnson defended the president’s dealing with of the Epstein information and stated he helped legislation enforcement in the case.
“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. The president knows and has great sympathy for the women who have suffered these unspeakable harms.”
Asked on the time to make clear the comment, a spokesman for the speaker’s workplace stated in a press release that Johnson was “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 White House declined to comment on the matter.
Brad Edwards, a lawyer for quite a few Epstein abuse victims, implored the president final week to again survivors’ push for transparency across the case, saying Trump had helped him together with his investigation of the case in 2009.
At the time, Trump was not in public workplace and Epstein had simply been sentenced to 18 months in a minimum-security jail for his crimes with minors as a part of a plea deal that has since confronted vital criticism for being too lenient.
“Back in 2009 and several times after that, he didn’t think that it was a hoax then. In fact, he helped me. He got on the phone, he told me things that were helping our investigation. Our investigation wasn’t looking into him, but he was helping us then,” Edwards stated.
“So at this point in time, I would hope that he would revert back to what he was saying to get elected, which is, ‘I want transparency.’ This about face that occurred, none of us understand it,” he continued
Johnson on Monday indicated that House Oversight Chairman James Comer and committee members had been planning to go to the Epstein property in Florida to view customer logs as a part of their probe into the case.
As NCS has reported, a bipartisan group of House Oversight staffers are anticipated to journey to New York City this week to satisfy with attorneys representing Epstein’s property to view unredacted paperwork associated to the case.