Donald Trump was an ‘informant’ on Jeffrey Epstein, a Republican politician has said.
Speaking to CNN, the leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said that the US President thought what Epstein did was a ‘terrible, unspeakable evil’.
Last week, Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill: “What Trump is referring to is the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him.
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“I’ve talked to him about this many times, many times. He is horrified. 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.”
The politician continued: “When he first heard the rumour, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.”
But on Sunday, Johnson backed off his claims that Trump had been an FBI informant.
A statement from his office said: “The Speaker is reiterating what the victims’ attorney said, which is that 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.”
His comments come following months of speculation regarding a ‘client list’ which Attorney General Pam Bondi said was sitting on her desk earlier this year.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that Ms Bondi informed Mr Trump that his name had appeared on the list multiple times among many other influential figures.
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for several sex-trafficking charges.
While his death was ruled as suicide, it prompted countless conspiracy theories and public skepticism.
Trump and Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s, with Trump being pictured alongside the disgraced financier on multiple occasions.
The pair severed ties with him after an argument at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
The MAGA camp has been divided due to the controversy, with even the most loyal of Trump’s supporters calling for greater transparency.
Kentucky member of the Republican Party Thomas Massie and Californian Democrat Ro Khanna are also campaigning for a ‘discharge petition’ in the House of Representatives.
This would force a vote on publicly releasing the government’s entire Epstein case information.
A press conference was held on Sunday by Epstein’s victims and their families to put pressure on the government in hopes they will release the files.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice said it has found no evidence of a client list being kept by the pedophile.
Mr Trump has previously speculated about the possibility that Epstein had been murdered, calling for a full investigation in 2019.
However, last week he described this as a hoax, stating: “From what I understand, I could check, but from what I understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given.
“But it’s really a Democrat hoax because they’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president.”