Benny Johnson Bludgeons Trump for ‘Abysmal’ Handling of Epstein Files: ‘So Much’ Information Was Brought Up By Trump Himself

Photo via Benny Johnson on Facebook.

Benny Johnson has built a massive and lucrative following for himself by being a relentlessly aggressive cheerleader for President Donald Trump, but the recent fiasco over the Epstein files has divided MAGA world and Johnson blasted the Trump administration for its “abysmal” handling of the matter.

The Trump administration has had an astonishingly tumultuous time in the aftermath of his Department of Justice issuing a memo denying disgraced financier and convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein had maintained a client list to blackmail the rich and powerful men who participated in his sexual abuse and trafficking of young women and underage girls.

The fallout from the Epstein files flop has emboldened Trump’s political opponents and reignited bitter internecine MAGA civil wars — messily playing out on social media and leading to calls for Trump to fire or demand the resignation of Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials.

Trump’s furious demands to change the subject are falling on deaf ears, even among the MAGA faithful, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are calling for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice and former girlfriend, to be called to testify. A resolution sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to force a floor vote on the release of the Epstein files is reportedly gaining traction, with all House Democrats expected to vote yes and more Republicans moving towards supporting it.

As for Johnson, his social media is peppered with photos of him with Trump administration officials and other MAGA world luminaries, and he’s cheerfully profited as he’s promoted many a right-wing cause célèbre and conspiracy theory over the years. But the Epstein file scandal has the podcaster siding with the president’s MAGA critics.

In a video clip he tweeted from the latest episode of The Benny Show, Johnson blasted Trump for comparing the Epstein List to “various Deep State hoaxes,” arguing that the “irony” was that “Russiagate, Hunter’s laptop, J6, etc. are hoaxes BECAUSE we asked questions, investigated and released real, incriminating evidence.”

“The only way to discern that they were not true, was to investigate, to ask questions, and to put our shoulder to the wheel, and to start to really hammer against them,” Johnson continued, saying that the various congressional hearings, subpoenas, investigations, lawsuits, trials, and other evidence made it possible “to discern that, yes, all these things are hoaxes.”

Johnson was not specific about what exactly he was saying was a “hoax,” but at least as far as “J6” goes, the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 absolutely was not a hoax, despite efforts by Trump and his supporters to rewrite history, reject photo and video evidence, and ignore sworn testimony from dozens of Republicans.

The Epstein files should be handled the same way as these other matters, Johnson argued. “By Trump’s own logic, we should be releasing everything, which I think would be a great pressure relief valve for all of this.”

He added that Epstein’s contact list most likely included people listed “through no fault of [their] own,” because they were his gardener or housekeeper, for example, and had zero guilt or knowledge of any sex trafficking or other crimes, so it wasn’t fair to have their names “dragged through and tortured in all this, you know, and everybody looking [them] up.”

“I believe that would be reckless,” said Johnson. “I do. I don’t like that, actually. And so, what President Trump is saying is technically right, in that when you release — if you just released everything, without any context or explanation or due diligence by the feds, then there would definitely be some people that would be totally destroyed in this who don’t deserve this. And I am not in favor of innocent people having their lives destroyed.”

In the tweet in which he shared that clip, however, he does not mention any such caution in the caption, instead advocating for a broad release of “everything.”

“This is how we can solve the ‘Epstein hoax’ as well,” wrote Johnson. “Release everything, full disclosure, chips fall where they may. Trust the American people.”

In another clip from the show flagged by Collin Rugg, Johnson directly criticized Trump and his administration for their “abysmal” handling of the Epstein matter, and cued up several video clips to argue his point.

Johnson pointed out that “so much of that information” that people had learned about Epstein was brought up byTrump, and claimed credit for “the most viral clips” on the topic coming from his show.

“Donald Trump began his political career talking about Jeffrey Epstein,” said Johnson, saying that it was “not up for debate” that Trump had been the one who was “bringing this into the public arena.”

Arguably, there are many people who would find it a matter of debate that Trump deserves all or even most of the credit for bringing the story into the spotlight, including Julie Brown at The Miami Herald, Tara Palmeri, and many other reporters who have covered Epstein’s various legal troubles and related scandals for years.

Johnson played several clips of Trump saying former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew had been on Epstein’s island.

This was “a problem of the administration’s making,” said Johnson, and “there’s an enormous amount of evidence to back that up.” The DOJ memo “forced the hands of people” who have covered this story, he continued.

“The point I’m trying to make here is that, it’s the administration and their handling of this, which is why everyone’s talking about it,” he said. “It didn’t have to be handled this way. It’s been abysmal and people aren’t satisfied. And that’s what all available polling shows.”

“There’s so much evidence that the government has that could be released to engage the pressure release valve,” Johnson said. “I find it stingingly ironic that Trump compares [Epstein] to these hoaxes, and the reason we know they’re hoaxes is because evidence was released.”

“I don’t believe Trump is guilty of anything,” Johnson declared. “I don’t. I don’t. Because I know these people, these monsters who had fought Trump and tried to put a bullet through his head on live TV, they would have released everything. If there was a single scintilla of evidence against Donald Trump, in there, it would be out in the public, you know it.”

Johnson’s suggestion that the attempted assassination just over a year ago was perpetrated by the Biden administration or other political foes of the president is not supported by credible evidence. The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was a registered Republican who donated $15 once through ActBlue, a Democratic political fundraising platform, had searched on the internet for information about notorious school shootings, and posted content on social media that the FBI described as anti-semitic, anti-immigrant, and supporting political violence. Crooks had no prior criminal history and was fatally shot at the scene.