US House Speaker Mike Johnson has broken with Donald Trump over calls to release documents related to child sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Johnson called for the Justice Department to make public all Epstein-related files, contradicting Trump’s weekend plea for supporters not to “waste time and energy” on the controversy that has roiled his rightwing base.
“It’s a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide,” Johnson told rightwing podcaster Benny Johnson in an interview released Tuesday. “I agree with the sentiment that we need to put it out there.”
The speaker’s comments came as Trump faces backlash from his party, after the Justice Department announced last week that Epstein’s 2019 death was suicide and that no client list exists for public release. Many in Trump’s Make America Great Again movement had expected the president to deliver on campaign promises to expose everything about Epstein’s crimes.
Attorney General under pressure
Johnson specifically challenged Attorney General Pam Bondi over previous statements about Epstein files. Referring to Bondi’s February comment to Fox News that an Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review,” Johnson said she “needs to come forward and explain that to everybody.”
Trump defended Bondi on Tuesday, saying she had “handled it very well” and that file releases would be “up to her.” He added that she should release “whatever she thinks is credible.”
When asked if Bondi had told him whether his name appeared in any records, Trump replied “No, no.” He later questioned continued fascination with the case, calling it “sordid but boring” and saying “only really bad people, including the fake news, want to keep something like this going.”
Bondi deflected questions about the controversy at a drug enforcement news conference, saying “Nothing about Epstein. I’m not going to talk about Epstein.” Her spokesman clarified last week that her February Fox News comments referred to overall case files, not a specific client list.
Conservative pressure
Other Republican allies joined calls for transparency. Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said she “fully supports transparency on this issue,” whilst Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert suggested appointing a special counsel if more files aren’t released.
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy said voters expect accountability, telling NBC News: “I think it’s perfectly understandable that the American people would like to know who he trafficked those women to and why they weren’t prosecuted.”
However, influential Republicans including Senator John Thune and Representative Jim Jordan deferred to Trump’s position on the matter.
Political manoeuvring
Democrats attempted unsuccessfully Tuesday to force a House vote on releasing Epstein files through legislative language, though Republicans voted down the effort. House Democrats on the judiciary committee have demanded hearings with Bondi and FBI leaders to answer questions about the case.
Republicans noted that the previous Biden administration also had access to the files but chose not to release them. The Justice Department said its findings followed review of more than 300 gigabytes of data.
Epstein killed himself in federal custody in 2019 whilst facing sex-trafficking charges. Conspiracy theories about his death and potential cover-ups have persisted among Trump supporters who expected the president to expose what they believe are protected powerful figures connected to the financier.
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