'Preposterous' claim president was an FBI informant came from Trump himself: biographer
Donald Trump biographer Michael Wolff dismissed Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's suggestion that the president was an FBI informant on the case against convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, calling it "preposterous."
“Mike Johnson says that Trump is an FBI informer, and the people in the White House go, ‘What the f——? What is he talking about?’" Wolff told Daily Beast podcast "Inside Trump's Head" host Joanna Coles.
Wolff suggested the suggestiong may have come from Trump himself.
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“Nobody knows this. Nobody’s aware of this. Therefore, they immediately conclude — because this happens again and again and again — that it was Trump who called Mike Johnson and came up with this story based on this kernel of truth that it was Trump who first went to the police about Jeffrey Epstein, but not to protect the young women of Palm Beach,” Wolff said.
Coles agreed, adding, "To protect himself against Jeffrey. So he goes nuclear on Jeffrey before Jeffrey goes nuclear on him.”
Johnson's comment came after Rep. Thomas Massie's (R-KY) effort to force a vote on releasing the Department of Justice's remaining evidence on Epstein.
"I've talked with him about this many times," Johnson said. "It's been misrepresented. 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 [Epstein] out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down."
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The ridicule over that statement forced Johnson to backtrack, saying he didn't use the "right terminology."
“What I was referring to in that long conversation was what the victims’ attorney said more than a decade ago,” Johnson said, adding that Trump “kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago” and was generally helpful in law enforcement investigations of the convicted sex offender.
Wolff laughed, saying, “And so he has to retract this because it is completely preposterous. So there, another Epstein chapter.”
In response, the White House slammed Wolff, saying, “Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s—— and has been proven to be a fraud,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast. “He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
On Tuesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt likewise dismissed suggestions Trump was an FBI informant, telling reporters, “I can affirm that is not true.”
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