Johnson Slams Democrats’ Epstein Push As Risky, Political

At Tuesday’s House Republican leadership press conference, Speaker Mike Johnson delivered one of his strongest warnings yet about the partisan gamesmanship surrounding the long-hidden Jeffrey Epstein files. Johnson emphasized that House Republicans — under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump’s renewed law-and-order administration — are committed to exposing the full truth about Epstein’s network while protecting the victims who suffered under it.

Johnson took direct aim at Democrats’ sudden public enthusiasm for transparency, calling it both disingenuous and politically convenient.

“The truth is, the biggest proponents of this discharge petition were never actually interested in transparency or ensuring justice or protecting victims of this unspeakable tragedy, the Epstein evils. And how do we know that? Because the Democrats had every one of the Epstein files in their possession for the four long years of the Biden Administration,” Johnson said. “The Biden Department of Justice had the files the entire time, and not a single one of the people who were so loud and animated right now ever said anything about it for all those four years.”

Johnson reminded reporters that Democrats spent the Biden years denying crisis after crisis — from mass illegal immigration to crippling inflation to what many Americans saw as the undeniable decline of Joe Biden himself.

“For four long years under the previous administration of the Biden-Harris Administration, Democrats insisted there was no border crisis. Remember, they told you that that wasn’t a problem at all. They dismissed inflation as transitory. That’s what they told us. They told the American people not to believe what we could all see with our own eyes, that there was an obvious mental and physical decline on the part of President Biden individually,” Johnson said. “And now, seemingly overnight, these same cast of characters, they’ve taken a sudden and urgent interest in the Epstein investigation.”

Johnson was blunt about the hypocrisy:
“None of them held press conferences. None of them demanded the release of the documents. And under Biden’s DOJ, when they prosecuted just Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, not a single one of these Democrats or any of the proponents of the discharge ever made any noise about that at all,” he said. “So, it’s fair for the American people to ask the question, why now? Why suddenly are they so interested?”

Republicans Lead the Push for Honest Disclosure

Johnson underscored that House Republicans are “working in earnest to deliver transparency to the American people” — but in a way that protects the innocent and safeguards victims.

“This was an unspeakable tragedy, and we have great compassion for the victims,” he said. “They deserve justice. It has been too long delayed.”

He highlighted that the House Oversight Committee — operating on a bipartisan basis — has already released far more information than the discharge petition would require.

“So far, by last count, it’s over 65,000 documents, Epstein files documents, that are now out in the public for everyone to review,” Johnson said. “That includes tens of thousands of pages from the Epstein Estate. And that includes Epstein’s flight logs, his personal financial records and ledgers, his daily calendars, and so much more.”

Concerns Over Victim Safety and Reckless Disclosure

While Democrats rush to demand all documents be dumped online without guardrails, Johnson warned that their petition contains no meaningful privacy protections. He cited court feedback and a powerful letter from one of Epstein’s victims urging the government to ensure personally identifying information remains redacted.

Johnson also cautioned against the danger of releasing unverified or misleading content.

He said overly broad disclosures could “ruin the reputations of completely innocent people” whose names might appear in Epstein’s files for benign or incidental reasons.

He also warned that the petition’s sloppy legal drafting could force the government to release child sexual abuse materials due to improper statutory citations — a catastrophic mistake that Republicans are determined to avoid.

Additionally, Johnson said Democrats’ approach could expose whistleblowers, confidential informants, and undercover officers whose identities were guaranteed protection.

“Imagine the chilling effect that that would have on future investigations,” he said.

Finally, Johnson warned that the measure’s rushed declassification demands could jeopardize national security.

“This ignores the principle that declassification should always rest and always has rested with the agency that originated the intelligence,” he said.

As the Trump administration moves forward with a responsible and victim-centered release of the Epstein documents, Johnson made clear that Republicans — not Democrats — are the ones committed to truth, justice, and transparency.