WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., walked back claims that President Donald Trump was an FBI informant during the agency’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, clarifying that he meant Trump has been a strong defender of victims for more than a decade.
“What I was referring to in that long conversation was what the victims’ attorney said more than a decade ago,” Johnson told reporters on Monday. “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.”
In remarks to reporters last week, Johnson defended Trump by saying he cares deeply about the victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking ring and claimed the president even worked as “an FBI informant to try and take this stuff down.” Spokespeople for the speaker later clarified that Johnson was “reiterating what the victims’ attorney said” in terms of Trump’s efforts to prosecute Epstein.
“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 told the Deseret News in a statement.
The spokesperson is referring to comments from Brad Edwards, one of the lawyers responsible for Epstein’s arrest and conviction in 2019, who last week told reporters that Trump had once worked with the attorneys to help the victims. It’s not clear whether Trump worked directly with federal investigators, but Edwards said he spoke with Trump several times in 2009 and that he “told me things that were helping our investigation.”
“Our investigation wasn’t looking into him, but he was helping us then,” Edwards said. “He didn’t treat this as a hoax.”
Edwards’ remarks last week come as a bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to force a vote on releasing the full Justice Department investigation into Epstein. That effort is being led by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who will need 218 lawmakers to sign his discharge petition that would force a vote even without GOP leadership’s approval.
So far, the Kentucky Republican has notched 215 signatures, but is on track to reach the minimum threshold by the end of the month after a series of special elections results in the swearings-in of three new Democrats.
The Trump White House has repeatedly pushed back on the petition effort, telling the Deseret News it would “be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration” if any Republican signs on. Four Republicans have already signed it so far.
“I don’t understand why it’s a hostile act,” Edwards said last week. “At this point in time, I would hope that (Trump) 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. In fact, I don’t understand how this is an issue that’s even up for debate.”
But calls to release the Epstein files have only grown in coming days, especially after House Democrats on the Oversight Committee said they received thousands of pages from Epstein’s estate as part of its ongoing investigation.
One of those materials was a birthday card allegedly written by Trump to Epstein with a closing line: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret."
The letter also depicted a sexually suggestive drawing.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the letter in mid-July, the existence of which was denied by the Trump administration. The president later sued the outlet, its publisher and two of its reporters for roughly $10 billion.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt similarly denied the authenticity of the letter that was produced on Monday, claiming that Trump did not write the letter or sign at the bottom of the page.
“President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation,” Leavitt said in a post on X. “This is FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!”