The House speaker said the controversy around Epstein was “not a hoax,” frustrating the president’s effort to bury the issue.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is distancing himself from President Donald Trump on the Jeffrey Epstein files. Johnson said the controversy around the late sex offender’s case is “not a hoax” and urged “full transparency” in an interview with CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent, Major Garrett, that aired Thursday. Johnson’s comment directly undercuts Trump’s narrative that the backlash over his handling of the Epstein files is a “hoax” engineered by Democrats.