Trump Ally Johnson Calls BS on Jeffrey Epstein Accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s Denials: ‘She Has No Credibility’

CNN anchor John Berman confronted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) for starting Congress’s August recess early to avoid “the Jeffrey Epstein situation,” and asked about Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview with Trump’s DOJ on Friday.

Media attention to the Epstein story has waned in the weeks since Johnson declared an early recess on the precipice of a vote to release the Epstein files. But since then, Maxwell sat for hours of interviews with Trump Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, transcripts of which were subsequently released.

On Friday’s edition of CNN News Central, Berman called Johnson out for leaving early and probed him about whether there will be a vote. But first, he asked if Maxwell’s denials that she ever saw “inappropriate” behavior were credible:

BERMAN: You went away for the summer a day early because of the Jeffrey Epstein situation. You’re going back here. While, again, Congress was gone, Ghislaine Maxwell talked to the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche. She’s in prison for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse minors. She told Todd Blanche, quote, “I never, ever saw any man doing something inappropriate with a woman of any age. I never saw inappropriate habits.”

How much weight do you put in the comments of Ghislaine Maxwell?

JOHNSON: Not much at all. She has no credibility. She’s been convicted for sex trafficking, OK? But we’re for maximum — maximum transparency. With the Epstein files, I’ve been saying this for years. We’ve been intellectually consistent from day one, and over this break, over the last couple weeks in August, the Department of Justice and the administration have been fully compliant with Congress’ subpoenas, and they’ve submitted over 34,000 Epstein documents already.

Our House Oversight Committee is doing their due diligence so that we can release it all. But they’re going through carefully to make sure that the victims of these horrific sex crimes, let’s be frank about it, are not exposed. They’ve already been through harm, and you have — we have a responsibility to do that, so it takes a little time, but we’re going to put it all out there and let the American people decide.

BERMAN: So, the discharge petition from Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, I hope I’m using the right word, will ripen soon?

JOHNSON: Well, no, I don’t — I guess it would if they get the right signatures.

BERMAN: If they get the signatures, ripen soon.

JOHNSON: But it’s not a moot point, it’s not even necessary.

BERMAN: You don’t think it’s going to happen?

JOHNSON: There may be a floor vote of one measure or another. We have our own resolutions to do all this, but I don’t — it’s sort of not necessary at the point because the administration is already doing this. They’re turning it over.

BERMAN: So, I don’t think that Congressman Khanna and Massie think that yet, at least from what I’ve heard, and I don’t know that the 218 people that they think they have as signatories of that think that either if they do get the signatures, will you allow that to come to a vote on the floor?

JOHNSON: We might not even wait for that. We have our own resolutions to affect this same thing, but the process is playing out as it should, and very soon the American people will have that information, and they should have had it all along. That’s my view.

BERMAN: But you can’t guarantee there’ll be a vote on the discharge petition?

JOHNSON: There probably will be a vote of some sense, but we’ve got to get everybody collected again and build consensus around that.

Watch above via CNN News Central.