House Speaker Mike Johnson has made the explosive claim that Donald Trump once acted as an FBI informant in relation to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The comments, delivered in the halls of Congress on Friday, came as Johnson attempted to clarify Trump’s repeated insistence that the Epstein controversy was a “hoax” driven by Democrats.
Pressed by CNN’s Manu Raju about Trump’s dismissive language, Johnson said: “What Trump is referring to is the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him. 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.”
Then came the remark that lit up headlines: “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.”
No further detail was offered. Johnson did not say when Trump had allegedly informed, who he had spoken to, or what information he might have provided. The White House and FBI have not commented publicly.
The shock statement immediately reignited scrutiny of Trump’s long-documented ties to Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Trump himself has previously acknowledged knowing Epstein, calling him a “terrific guy” in a 2002 interview and socialising with him during the late 1980s and 1990s. He and Melania were photographed with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at a Mar-a-Lago party in February 2000.
Yet Trump has also attempted to distance himself from Epstein in recent years, claiming he “kicked him out” of Mar-a-Lago long before Epstein’s legal troubles became public.
Despite Trump’s distancing, pressure from his own supporters has mounted since he returned to the White House in January. Many in the MAGA base are furious over what they see as broken promises surrounding the release of the so-called “Epstein files”.
Trump had vowed to make public all investigation documents relating to Epstein’s crimes and associates. But in July, the Department of Justice concluded there was no client list, no credible evidence of blackmail, and reaffirmed its stance that Epstein had taken his own life.
The backlash was swift. On Truth Social, Trump attempted to downplay the controversy, writing: “We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”
He added: “America should not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody nobody cares about.”
The post angered many within his base, particularly those who have long suspected a cover-up. The divide is now beginning to show in Congress.
A bipartisan bill, initially introduced by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, is currently gaining traction in the House. The proposal seeks to force the DOJ to release all Epstein-related case files within 30 days.
It’s now supported by Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie, both of whom have pledged to read out any names in the documents on the House floor. They can do so without fear of defamation, thanks to constitutional protections granted to lawmakers during official proceedings.
Massie is also leading a discharge petition to force the bill to a vote, claiming it now has 214 signatures—just four short of the 218 needed for passage.
If passed, the measure could shine new light on what Johnson now claims was Trump’s role as an FBI informant—though skeptics are demanding evidence beyond a throwaway comment in a hallway.
With no formal statement yet from the former president or the bureau, the question remains: was Donald Trump really an informant in one of the most explosive criminal scandals in recent history, or is this just the latest twist in an already murky saga?
