US House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that President Donald Trump once acted as an “FBI informant” in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, a statement that has not been independently confirmed.
“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,” Johnson said on Friday in a walking interview with CNN’s Manu Raju.
The comment came as Johnson pushed back against Rep. Thomas Massie, who is leading a discharge petition to force the release of the so-called Epstein files. Johnson dismissed the effort as “totally unfounded,” insisting the petition was “mooted” and “not necessary.”
Asked about Trump’s past remarks describing parts of the Epstein controversy as a “hoax,” Johnson said: “It’s been misrepresented. He’s not saying what Epstein did is a hoax. … It’s a terrible, unspeakable evil. He believes that himself.”
Johnson did not clarify whom he was describing as the informant, and there is no public record confirming Trump or Epstein ever served in that role with the FBI.
“Another Democrat hoax”
On Friday, US President Donald Trump rejected demands by congressional Democrats for the release of more documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as “another Democrat hoax.”
“The confused and badly failing Democrat Party did nothing about Jeffrey Epstein while he was alive except befriend him, socialize with him, travel to his Island, and take his money!” Trump wrote on US social media company Truth Social, which he owns.
“They knew everything there was to know about Epstein, but now, years after his death, they, out of nowhere, are seeming to show such love and heartfelt concern for his victims.” Trump said the Department of Justice had “given everything requested of them” and insisted: “It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax.”
Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, was found dead in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Authorities ruled the death a suicide, a finding reaffirmed by the Justice Department in July, though many of Americans, including Trump’s supporters continue to allege a cover-up.
