US House speaker says ‘nothing to hide’ in Epstein files

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday he believed the approaching vote on releasing Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein should help put to rest 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 go after President Trump on this theory that he has something to do with it. He does not,” Johnson, the Republican leader in the House, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Epstein is their entire game plan, so we’re going to take that weapon out of their hands,” Johnson said of Democrats. “Let’s just get this done and move it on. There’s nothing to hide.”

Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president has said the two men fell out prior to Epstein’s convictions. Emails released last week by a House committee showed Epstein believed Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.

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

Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and an original sponsor of the petition calling for a vote on the files’ release, said on Sunday that he expected more than 40 Republicans to vote in favor.

Republicans hold the majority in the House, with 219 seats, versus 214 for Democrats.

Khanna, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said the measure is not about Trump but about accountability for all the powerful individuals who allegedly participated in abusing thousands of victims.

“This is not partisan. They all need to be held accountable. The Epstein class needs to go,” Khanna said.

The battle over disclosure of more Epstein-related documents, a subject Trump himself campaigned on, has opened a rift with some of his allies in Congress. Trump late on Friday withdrew his support for Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, long one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, following her criticism of Republicans on certain issues, including the handling of the Epstein files.

In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, Greene said she did not believe the as-yet-unreleased files would implicate the president, but she renewed her call for further transparency.

“I don’t believe that rich, powerful people should be protected if they have done anything wrong,” she said.

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non, Paul Simao and Leslie Adler)