Republicans seem to have already abandoned their latest tactic in Donald Trump‘s fight to keep America in the dark about Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump’s MAGA base was shocked a few weeks back when the FBI and DOJ made clear they were not going to be releasing anything else from the Epstein files. Not a single man who victimized the underage girls would be exposed, despite Kash Patel and Pam Bondi supposedly being champions of transparency… before getting into office and actually seeing the files. Then Trump started lashing out at everyone for even asking about the Epstein documents. He called the whole thing “a Democrat hoax” invented to hurt him. He seemingly made a deal with Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell, who was moved from an awful prison to a cushy Club Fed after meeting with Trump’s lawyer.
It was the most nakedly suspicious the POTUS had come across about the whole thing. Even many of his supporters became convinced he was trying to hide his own culpability.
Related: Trump Nightmare! Ghislaine Maxwell Said Some Of Epstein’s Pals ‘Are In Your Cabinet’!
It seemed over the weekend that someone decided to try a new tactic to protect the Donald: claim he was actually the one responsible for Epstein getting charged in the first place! Huh??
How It Started
House Speaker Mike Johnson was confronted by reporters on Friday about Trump’s insistence the Epstein sex trafficking ring was just a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” — even after the victims came to Capitol Hill to share their stories. He shocked everyone by saying:
“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. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down. The president knows and has great sympathy for the women who have suffered these unspeakable harms.”
Sorry, WHAT?! Now suddenly Trump “was an FBI informant” trying to take Epstein down? Since WHEN???
Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters ran with that rap — shocker. But the rest of us were trying to figure out why the hell, if Trump was actually some kind of crusader to save these girls, did he not say that from the start? And more importantly, once he got in power, why did he do nothing to expose the men who abused these girls? At any point he could have declassified these files and brought it all out into the light. Hell, he’s bragged about being able to declassify things with his mind. If he’s the hero, why not prove it??
It Could Actually Be Bad For Trump
Well, that’s the thing… even if he did inform on Epstein… that might not be exculpatory. Informants are most commonly members of the criminal organizations they’re ratting on. Mob hitmen who turn on their bosses, that kind of thing. Sometimes even higher-ups who know enough to spill on everyone to keep themselves out of prison. Meaning… Trump could only rat if he was part of the ring to some extent, right? We mean, anyone who saw The Departed had to be thinking about that, right??
We guess Speaker Johnson isn’t allowed to watch R-rated films because he apparently didn’t consider for a moment that he was outing Trump as having been involved in the underage sex trafficking.
On Monday he backpedaled HARD when asked about his claim that Trump was an FBI informant:
“I don’t know if I used the right word. I said FBI informant. I’m not sure — I wasn’t there.”
WTF? Johnson now claims total ignorance to everything involving this, saying he was just parroting “common knowledge” (aka right-wing talking points he heard people repeating behind closed doors?). He claimed:
“I was repeating what has been common knowledge for a long time. The president was helpful in trying to get Epstein for the law enforcement to go after Epstein. That’s always been my understanding. That’s common knowledge. It’s the public’s understanding. I didn’t — I was not breaking news there, OK? What I’m trying to emphasize is that the president is as disgusted about this as everyone is.”
LOLz! No, that is not common knowledge, Michael. The public’s understanding is that Trump and Epstein were friends for a long time, including when a lot of the allegations took place. Very close friends, reportedly. And there’s video, photos, and magazines from that era to prove it. Anyone who thinks he carried on a 15+ year relationship with a sex trafficker because he was some kind of saint? That the same Donald Trump we’ve all witnessed did that?? Hell, if you believe that, you might even believe tariffs will help the economy. Oh god… Maybe some people do really believe that about Trump.
Though even they still have to be asking the same question as us now — why on earth wouldn’t Trump just tell everyone he was undercover helping to put Epstein away? Instead of denying he wrote the man birthday notes, he could just tell everyone it all could have been part of his cover story! Has NO ONE SEEN the Martin Scorsese classic The Departed?? It won Best Picture!
How Johnson Got Confused
OK, OK, so why did Johnson say it at all? Was he just making it all up? To try to make Trump look better? And like most of these lies they tell, it didn’t matter if he had to retract it later, the lie was already out there making the search for truth weaker??
How can he say he just made an oopsie now? Surely he knows everyone assumed he had more knowledge than Joe Q. Public about this, he’s the effing Speaker of the House! He even admitted he and Trump have spoken privately about “the Epstein evils many times.” But Trump didn’t tell him he was an informant? Johnson just… thought he should say it??
We can’t help but wonder if someone over the weekend took the Speaker into a room to explain to him he was potentially outing Trump as a participant in sex trafficking! Someone who had seen The Departed, we mean.
Johnson does maintain he believed it. And he said he even thinks it was bolstered by what the victims’ lawyer said last week:
“What I was referring to in that long conversation was what the (Epstein) victims’ attorney said. More than a decade ago, President Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, and he was one of the only people, one of the only prominent people, as everyone has reported … that he was willing to help law enforcement go after this guy who was a disgusting child abuser, sex trafficker, all the allegations. That’s what they heard. So the president was helpful in that.”
Trump and Epstein’s falling out didn’t happen for YEARS after the recruitment of 16-year-old Virginia Roberts from Mar-a-Lago. And there’s contemporary evidence it was over Trump trying to screw Epstein out of some real estate deal. Even by Trump’s version of events, he turned a blind eye the first time he “stole” someone. So acting like him kicking the guy out of Mar-a-Lago after he took one too many teenage girls isn’t the praise this supposed Christian thinks it is…
Did Trump Actually Help
The victims’ lawyer did say Trump was helpful — but again, that is not the same thing as being one of the good guys. In fact, attorney Brad Edwards was putting the President on notice when he mentioned that, blasting him for obscuring the files and calling them a hoax! He said:
“Back in 2009 and several times after that, he didn’t think that it was a hoax then. In fact, he helped me. He got on the phone, he told me things that were helping our investigation. Our investigation wasn’t looking into him, but he was helping us then.”
So he was helping by answering questions. Because he knew what was going on. That’s what it sounds like. Somewhat similar to being an informant. But again, Edwards was pointing out that at this time, when Epstein is dead and Trump is the most powerful man in America… He’s choosing to keep the files buried:
“So at this point in time, I would hope that he would revert back to what he was saying to get elected, which is, ‘I want transparency.’ This about face that occurred, none of us understand it.”
Huh.
Well, we don’t know if we buy that Johnson is really this clueless. But we guess it’s possible. Still, it’s pretty outrageous that he believes weird theories about Trump instead of, you know, THE EVIDENCE HE COULD GET HIS HANDS ON IN HIS CURRENT ROLE!
Was Trump an informant? We don’t know. We doubt it. And if he was, it raises serious questions about when he started informing — and how long he took part in the activities before that. What we do know, what’s actually “common knowledge” at the moment, is that the buck stops with the President on this. He could release the Epstein files, and he refuses. THAT much we KNOW. We’re not guessing. And the Speaker shouldn’t be guessing either.
[Image via MEGA/WENN/Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.]
