Washington DC - House Speaker and MAGA loyalist Mike Johnson recently claimed that President Donald Trump's role in legal cases against notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was far more noble than the public might believe.

During an interview with CNN on Friday, Johnson was pressed on how Trump repeatedly refers to "the Epstein thing" as a "hoax."

Johnson claimed that the president was referring to how he is being "falsely accused and maligned" by Democrats who are using the issue to "try to attack him," and was not casting doubt on the victims of Epstein's alleged abuse.

"I've talked to [Trump] about this many times, many times. He is horrified. It's been misrepresented," Johnson said.

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"He's not saying that what Epstein did is a hoax. It's a terrible, unspeakable evil. He believes that himself."

The speaker went on to repeat a disputed claim from Trump – who was close friends with Epstein for decades – that he kicked the financier out of his Mar-a-Lago club after hearing rumors about his alleged crimes.

"He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down," Johnson then claimed.

When asked to confirm this, a spokesperson for Johnson told The Daily Beast, "The Speaker is reiterating what the victims' attorney said, which is that Donald Trump – who kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago – was the only one more than a decade ago willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein for being a disgusting child predator."

Trump and his administration have been facing heavy backlash in recent months for refusing to fulfill their repeated promise to release all the files related to Epstein's case to the public. The president and his allies have tried desperately to clear his name, as Trump and other powerful people are believed to be named in the files.

While he has given a number of excuses and explanations regarding his relationship with Epstein, Trump has never claimed that he was an informant.

Johnson's recent remarks came a day after Congress members hosted a press conference alongside a number of Epstein's victims – many of whom blasted Trump and his allies for constantly referring to the issue as a hoax – and called on Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which seeks to force a House vote to release the files.

The speaker has aggressively opposed the measure, arguing that releasing the files "endangers the survivors and victims," while the White House said that passing it will be considered "a very hostile act to the administration."