House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in an interview that aired Thursday that files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are “not a hoax.”
“It’s not a hoax, of course not,” Johnson said in an interview with CBS News’s Major Garrett on “The Takeout,” which Mediaite highlighted.
“I mean, they are real victims here, but that’s part of a delicate — the balance that’s being done here is, I tried to explain in my press conference this week, man, we want full disclosure. If I had — if I had these things in my possession, I would have put them out a long time ago, but I would also have been very careful to protect the innocent,” the Speaker added.
President Trump and his administration have recently been facing pressure from both sides of the aisle over Epstein’s case, with the saga also throwing Congress into chaos.
On Wednesday, the House broke for its weeks-long August recess, shutting down one day before originally planned as the chamber was stuck in a logjam over the Epstein controversy.
Last week, Trump admonished and sought to distance himself from supporters who have pushed for additional information on documents related to Epstein.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump dismissed the uproar due to the Epstein files as a “scam” pushed by Democrats and suggested he no longer welcomed his supporters who have requested more transparency around the documents.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls‑‑‑,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump said in his post. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
