US House Speaker: Nothing to hide in Epstein files

(Patria) - US House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday that he believes the upcoming vote on releasing Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein should help end accusations that President Donald Trump had any connection to the late sex offender's abuse and trafficking of underage girls, Reuters reported.

"They are doing this to prosecute President Trump based on the theory that he has some connection to this. He does not," Johnson, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, said on "Fox News Sunday".

"Epstein is their whole game plan, so we are going to take that weapon out of their hands," Johnson said of Democrats.

"Let's just get this done and move on. There is nothing to hide."
Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president said the two had a falling out before Epstein's conviction.

Emails released last week by a House committee showed that Epstein believed Trump "knew about the girls," although it was unclear what that phrase meant.

Trump has since ordered the Justice Department to investigate the connections of prominent Democrats to Epstein.

The battle over the release of more documents related to Epstein, a topic Trump himself advocated for on the campaign trail, has opened a rift with some of his allies in Congress.

Trump late Friday withdrew his support for US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, long one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, after she criticized Republicans on certain issues, including the handling of Epstein's files.

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Greene said she did not believe the unreleased files could implicate connections to the president, but reiterated her call for greater transparency.

"I don't believe rich, powerful people should be protected if they've done something wrong," she said.