House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) turned heads on Tuesday when he joined the growing chorus of outrage among the MAGA faithful to demand President Donald Trump release all of the Department of Justice's files on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Washington Post is reporting that Johnson publicly challenged both Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi to publish the DOJ's materials on Epstein during an interview with far-right podcast host Benny Johnson. The Post's Marianna Sotomayor observed that Johnson was a "close Trump ally and has never broken so publicly with the president on an issue."
"I’m for transparency,” Johnson said during the interview. “It’s a very delicate subject but we should put everything out there and let the people decide it.”
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“I like Pam, I think she’s done a good job but we need the DOJ focusing on the major priorities," Johnson said of Bondi. “I’m anxious to put this behind us.”
According to the Post, House Republican leaders struggled to quell a "brewing revolt" on Tuesday during a vote to release the full Epstein files, which ultimately failed to pass by a razor-thin 210-211 margin. The resolution, which was authored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), initially had bipartisan support from members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. House Majority Leader Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) was seen arguing on the floor of the House of Representatives for several minutes with Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who ended up not voting for or against the resolution.
The MAGA media world has also been hammering the Trump administration over the Epstein case this week, with far-right influencer Candace Owens joining the call for the Epstein files to be released during her Tuesday podcast. Owens posited that Trump's sudden announcement that he would be sending more weapons to NATO allies to help Ukraine fight Russia was an attempt to tamp down Epstein-related fallout among his voters.
“It seems like you think your base is stupid,” Owens said. “That’s how I feel. I feel like Trump thinks his base is stupid, or, again, because I don’t think he’s pressing send on these messages, the people around him think that Trump is stupid.”
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