‘Nothing to hide’ in Epstein files: US House speaker

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the upcoming vote on releasing Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein should help dispel allegations that President Donald Trump had any connection to the late sex offender’s abuse and trafficking of underage girls.

“They’re doing this to push the theory that President Trump had something to do with this. He doesn’t,” Johnson, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, said on Fox News Sunday. he said.

“Epstein is their whole game plan, so we’re going to take that gun away from them,” Johnson said of Democrats.

“Let’s get this over with and move on. There’s nothing to hide.”

Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president said the two men had a falling out before Epstein’s conviction.

Emails released by a House committee last week showed that Epstein believed Trump “knew about the girls,” but it was unclear what that statement meant.

Trump has since ordered the Justice Department to investigate prominent Democrats’ ties to Epstein.

The fight over the release of more documents related to Epstein, an issue on which Trump himself campaigned, has created a rift among some of his allies in Congress.

Trump late Friday withdrew his support for U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, following her criticism of Republicans on certain issues, including their handling of the Epstein files.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Greene said she did not believe the yet-to-be-released files would incriminate the president but reiterated her call for more transparency.

“I don’t believe rich and powerful people should be protected if they’ve done something wrong,” he said.