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Trump Was FBI Informant in Epstein Case, Speaker Johnson Says¶
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News Nation Now (09/05, Donovan) reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed President Donald Trump served as an FBI informant in the Jeffrey Epstein case while defending Trump’s recent comments referring to the scandal as the “Democrat Epstein Hoax.” According to the article, Johnson clarified that Trump was criticizing Democrats’ use of the scandal against him politically, saying, “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.” Johnson added, “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.” The article explained that Trump has not commented on Johnson’s remarks, which came as the House Oversight Committee released more than 30,000 documents tied to the Epstein investigation and survivors pushec for full disclosure of all records. The article noted that Epstein accusers are now vowing to compile their own client list, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene pledging to reveal “every damn name” provided to her on the House floor. Additional reporting on the story was provided by The Daily Beast (09/06, Vaillancourt), HuffPost (09/06, O’Connor), The Independent (09/06, Evans), The Intercept (09/05, Aaronson), Fox News (09/06, Miller), NPR (09/06, Rosenbaum), Rolling Stone (09/06, Legaspi, Suebsaeng), and Telegraph (09/06, Millward). MSNBC (09/06, Video) published broadcast coverage of the story.¶
House Speaker Backs Off Claim That Trump Was An ‘FBI Informant’ In Jeffrev Epstein Case¶
The Washington Post (09/07, Partlow, Alfaro) reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson backed off his claim that President Donald Trump was an FBI informant in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Johnson’s office released a statement modifying the claim, saying Trump was willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein as a child predator. Additional reporting on the story was provided by ABC News (09/07, Wright), Newsmax (09/07, Fitzgerald), Tampa Free Press (09/07, Shockey), and USA Today (09/07, Bagchi).¶
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