Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sought to clarify Monday his comments that spread widely last week about President Trump being an “FBI informant” against the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, suggesting he misspoke about the president’s efforts to assist law enforcement as it investigated the wealthy financier.
“I don’t know if I used the right word,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “I said, ‘FBI informant’ but I’m not sure. I wasn’t there — this isn’t my lane.”
“I’m just repeating what is common knowledge and has been out in the public for a long time: President Trump was never a hindrance to the Epstein investigation, he was trying to assist, and that he is disgusted,” he continued.
Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju on Friday that Trump “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down,” referring to the president’s documented past friendship with Epstein and their eventual falling out nearly two decades ago.
The term “informant” is an official designation given to sources who provide confidential information to the FBI.
The House Speaker, who is a staunch Trump ally, said Monday that he was only referring last week to details that have been long reported about Trump’s decision to ban Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago resort years before Epstein was charged with sex trafficking minors and died by suicide in 2019.
“I mentioned that what the attorneys for the victims have been very clear about … he kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago when he learned about this — the allegations of just evil behavior, evil acts — and that he was assisting, participating in some way, with law enforcement to bring about an end to that,” Johnson said.
Several survivors of Epstein’s abuse spoke at the Capitol last week, urging officials to release more information related to Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes and other powerful figures who may have been involved.
A bipartisan group of House members has been pressing for the release of additional details about the Epstein investigation, while Trump has repeatedly dismissed calls for the “Epstein files” as a “Democrat hoax.”
Epstein’s estate on Monday turned over a tranche of documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee.
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