Speaker Johnson Points Finger At Democrats As Calls To Release Epstein Files Grow Louder

Forbes Breaking News

At today's House Republican leadership press briefing, Speaker Johnson slammed Democrats for not releasing the Epstein files when former President Biden was in office.

Transcript

00:00Our speaker, Mike Johnson.

00:03Thank you to this leadership team and all of you. Good morning.

00:06Thank you, Representative Kiggins, doing an extraordinary job for Virginia and our military families

00:11and all of the issues she worked so hard on. Thank you for all that hard work.

00:16I tell you what, it's been an exciting six months.

00:20Sunday, as you all probably know, marked the first six months of the Trump presidency, the second term.

00:25The 47th president has had an incredible run.

00:29We're on a winning streak. America's hot again.

00:30We're bringing back strength and prosperity and capitalizing and delivering on all the campaign promises

00:37that President Trump made on the campaign trail and that all Republicans did by extension.

00:41We're really proud of that.

00:42And I tell you what, history is going to record this to be one of the most consequential,

00:47extraordinary first six months of any administration ever because we have unified government.

00:52The voters in this country gave Republicans the chance to turn this mess around, and we are.

00:56So we have the White House and the Senate in the House, and we're using it effectively every single day.

01:01And here in the House, we've kept pace with President Trump's extraordinary momentum.

01:05He never sleeps, and so we don't get to either.

01:07We've been codifying his executive orders at a record pace.

01:10We're cementing America First policies into law.

01:13We're enacting the full scale of the Trump administration's agenda with the passage, of course, of the one big beautiful bill,

01:21sort of a capstone of the first six months.

01:23And we've accomplished so much in just that time period, and I think the key is we've done that with unity.

01:30As you all have noticed, it's very deliberate.

01:32We work very closely hand-in-hand, the Senate and House Republicans, as one united team.

01:36That's kind of an innovation in Washington, but a very important one.

01:39And we've demonstrated that that unity is how we deliver.

01:42There's no majority in the history of this body that can wield power unless it stands together.

01:47And so I work really hard.

01:48We all do.

01:49This leadership team does every day.

01:50They keep everybody rowing in the same direction.

01:52This morning at our weekly conference meeting, we discussed the upcoming schedule,

01:56given the Democrats' endless efforts to politicize the Epstein controversy and the whole investigation.

02:04I want to be clear about this.

02:06There is a reason behind what we are doing here.

02:09We have a responsibility, actually a dual responsibility here, okay?

02:13I've been on record very clearly that publicly and privately they talk about this.

02:18We want maximum transparency.

02:20We also understand the other part of that duty is that we have to protect innocent victims, okay?

02:26We have to do both things at the same time.

02:28What do we mean by that?

02:30Look, involved in the Epstein evil, okay, which is what it was, just call it what it was,

02:35there are innocent victims of those unspeakable sex crimes, okay?

02:40Some of them were minors, some of them were not.

02:44When the Epstein records are turned over to the public, which we must do as quickly as possible,

02:51we have to also be very judicious and careful about protecting the innocent.

02:55I think everybody in the country should understand the necessity of that.

02:59It is the standard.

03:00I used to be a litigator.

03:02It's the standard in the court of law and the courts.

03:04It's the standard in law enforcement.

03:06Anyone who's served in law enforcement understands the necessity of that.

03:08It is the standard with government agencies.

03:11We protect the innocent.

03:12So we cannot be careless in an open release like that.

03:16You have to be very careful.

03:17The president himself has said that he wants maximum transparency and all credible evidence

03:23to be turned over to the American public so that everyone can make their own decisions.

03:26We're owed that.

03:27And we want any individual who has been involved in any way in the Epstein evils to be brought

03:33to justice as quickly as possible and the law should be brought down upon their head.

03:39We're unequivocal about that, okay?

03:42We have to make sure that the credible evidence is revealed and we're doing that.

03:46The president has made a request to the courts and the grand jury testimony and the files

03:52there, for example, and the court should turn that over and that will be a continuing and

03:57ongoing quest.

03:58Now, what we refuse to do is participate in another one of the Democrats' political games.

04:03This is a serious matter.

04:04We are not going to let them use this as a political battering ram.

04:08The rules committee became the ground for them to do that.

04:11We're not going to allow them to engage in that charade anymore.

04:14Why do I call it a charade?

04:16Because the Democrats are trying to play gotcha politics right now when, as the leader just

04:20pointed out, they don't have any moral high ground on this at all.

04:23They controlled the Department of Justice for the last four years, has anyone forgotten?

04:27They had all these files the entire time.

04:29They sat on everything Epstein-related for four long years while President Biden was in

04:34office.

04:35You could draw your own conclusions as to why, but we've been intellectually consistent the

04:39entire time.

04:40And I want to say this about my colleagues Ro Khanna and Jim McGovern and Hakeem Jeffries and

04:44so many others.

04:45They've tweeted about Epstein countless times in the last two weeks, but go back and look

04:49at their social media accounts.

04:51We have, and their public comments.

04:53They had exactly zero posts on the subject for the last four years of the Biden administration.

04:59Interesting, isn't it?

05:01We all understand that the America First agenda and the American people are best served by putting

05:05an end to the Democrats' sideshows.

05:07And that's what we're doing by not allowing the Rules Committee to continue with that nonsense

05:11this week.

05:12As was noted, we've got tons of very important work going on here.

05:16The leader just gave you a small sampling of it.

05:18But we're done being lectured on transparency by the same party that orchestrated one of the

05:22most shameless, dangerous political cover-ups in the history of this country or any government

05:26on the face of planet Earth.

05:28If the Democrats want to talk transparency, I'm happy to rewind the tape.

05:31366 days ago, President Joe Biden was unceremoniously forced off the Democrat ticket.

05:37Everybody knows why.

05:39Even after millions of Americans had already cast their primary votes for him, the self-proclaimed

05:44party of democracy threw out their nominee, the sitting president of the United States

05:48for his disastrous debate performance.

05:50On the debate stage, President Biden revealed to the American people what Democrats in Congress

05:55spent four long years trying to hide, that the president of the United States of America

06:00was in rapid mental decline and unable to continue serving as the leader of the free world.

06:05I'm going to say that again.

06:07The man holding the most powerful office on the face of the Earth, who we now know was

06:12being propped up by his staff and Democrats in Congress, was in rapid mental decline.

06:17It was as shocking as it was dangerous.

06:19And they all participated in it.

06:21Nearly every single one of the Democrats who shamelessly attempted to pull the wool over

06:25our eyes still holds office today.

06:27You ought to be chasing them down the hallways asking for their responses on that.

06:31We released a 14-minute long video yesterday with just a small sample of the countless

06:35receipts of the Democrats at every level spending this fantastical lie to the American people.

06:41I encourage every reporter in this room to go watch that.

06:44You ought to use the clips and you ought to go ask them about it.

06:46And remember that the same Democrats who lied to us for years are now trying to convince

06:50you they stand for transparency.

06:51They participated in one of the greatest political scandals in all of history.

06:56And the House Republicans are not going to allow this to be whitewashed from the historical

06:59record.

07:00We'll continue to investigate and shine a light on those who perpetrated this and provide

07:03answers directly to the American people.

07:06Now, President Biden's mental condition was poor, but his legacy of achievement in office

07:10was even worse.

07:12And I've said many times after those four years of Biden and Harris, every single area of

07:16public policy was in a disastrous state.

07:18In Congress and the White House, we've been hard at work from day one of this Congress,

07:22day one of the Trump administration, trying to undo all that damage over the last four

07:26years.

07:27And we're laying the foundation for what will make our country safer, stronger, and more

07:30prosperous than ever before.

07:33The American people gave President Trump a clear mandate to enact his America First

07:36agenda, and Republicans answered the call.

07:39To date, we've enacted 50 of the President's executive orders, from reigning in bureaucratic waste,

07:43fraud, and abuse, to passing common-sense legislation, to delivering our government,

07:48our once-in-a-generation legislative victories through the one big, beautiful bill.

07:51Let me give you a quick summary.

07:52Americans asked for secure borders and safer communities, and Republicans delivered the

07:56largest investment in border security and interior enforcement on record.

08:00And with the Halt-Fentanyl Act and the Lake and Riley Act, we're making sure American communities

08:05are safe from deadly drugs and illegal aliens that have taken far too many lives.

08:09The American people asked us for bigger paychecks and more affordable gas and groceries, and

08:13we delivered on that, too.

08:14We delivered the largest working and middle-class tax cut in the history of the United States.

08:20And we've torn down binary regulations, like the California EB mandate that was just madness,

08:26and worked against working families in American energy dominance.

08:30The American people demanded fiscal sanity, and Republicans delivered again.

08:33We passed more than $1.5 trillion in spending cuts so the government can begin to live within

08:39its means again.

08:40All of this is real, positive change for American families, the kind that they are going to directly

08:46feel in their bank accounts, they're going to see it in their neighborhoods, and they're

08:49going to count on it for years to come.

08:52Any of these individual feats, as standalone bills, would have been considered historic achievements

08:56by any Republican Congress.

08:58And we got them all done, all together, in one big, beautiful bill.

09:01And the more the American people hear about that bill, the more they like it.

09:05There was a Harvard-Harris poll that recently surveyed the individual titles, the individual

09:10pieces of the big bill, and they found that 17 of the 21 major proposals polled had a majority

09:16of support.

09:17That's including things like reducing federal spending and imposing common-sense work requirements

09:21on public assistance.

09:23But while the American people continue to learn about the bill, they'll also begin to feel its

09:27positive effects, because we did this on a very aggressive timetable.

09:31As you all know, we put it on an ambitious timeline to be delivered.

09:36Many in this room said it wouldn't succeed.

09:38You wrote about it.

09:38I read all that.

09:39That's fine.

09:40We said we needed six weeks to craft our House budget resolution, and we passed it in February.

09:45We said we'd pass our House version of the one big, beautiful bill by Memorial Day, and we beat that

09:49deadline by four days.

09:51We said we'd pass it through both chambers and get it to the President's desk for signature by July 4th.

09:55And what happened?

09:56We had a big, beautiful signing ceremony at the White House on Independence Day.

10:00It was a historic day, and it's a testament to what this House Republican conference can accomplish

10:04when we remain united and working towards a common goal.

10:09Last thought here on closing note, this is the last leadership press conference before we enter

10:13the August district work period.

10:15Around here, people call it the August recess.

10:18It is not that.

10:19Okay?

10:19So I know that lots of people in the press corps are going to be able to enjoy some downtime with friends

10:24and families, and we commend you for that, but House Republicans aren't going to get to participate

10:28in all that stuff because this month of August is not a vacation.

10:32This is arguably the most important work month on our calendar.

10:35Why?

10:36Because our members go home.

10:37They connect with their constituents in person.

10:39They host roundtables with local businesses and organizations.

10:42They meet with community stakeholders and local officials.

10:46Really, really important components of the job.

10:48And frankly, they need to cut through the false and misleading claims about the one big, beautiful bill

10:52from the media and the Democrats.

10:53As I mentioned, the more people know, the more they greatly favor the bill that we passed.

10:59And House Republicans are going to spend the month highlighting how it will positively impact

11:02our districts and our communities.

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