(NewsNation) — Speaker Mike Johnson has clarified his remarks about President Donald Trump being an FBI informant in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Johnson made the claim 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 on Sept. 5.
“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.”
On Monday, Johnson revisited his remarks, saying, “I don’t know if I used the right word.”
“What I was referring to in that long conversation was what the victim’s attorney said 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, not President Trump, but everybody about him, 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,” Johnson said as he entered the Capitol.
“I don’t know if I used the right word. I said ‘FBI informant.’ 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.”
Jeffrey Epstein case fallout
Epstein killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
The House Oversight Committee released more than 30,000 documents related to the Epstein investigation 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.
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.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.