| House Speaker Mike Johnson finds himself in an uncomfortable position, caught between a president who loathes the continued conversation around Jeffrey Epstein and a Republican base that has for years been promised answers about the sex offender’s death, associates and crimes. That push and pull has put Johnson in a bind, one that is likely to only grow more intense. Yesterday afternoon, Epstein’s estate sent the House Oversight Committee — which is in the middle of an inquiry into the federal government’s Epstein investigation — a set of documents in answer to a subpoena. Yesterday evening, the committee publicly released redacted versions of most of those documents, including a “birthday book” allegedly given to Epstein for his 50th birthday and containing messages from influential associates. Among the book’s notes was a doodle of a woman’s nude form seemingly signed by Donald Trump, with the signature as the pubis; a script imagining a fictional dialogue between Trump and Epstein accompanies the sketch. White House officials denied Trump was responsible for the image. “It’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X. “President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.” House Oversight Democrats were quick to tweet out the doodle yesterday afternoon. “It’s time for the President to tell us the truth about what he knew and release all the Epstein files. The American people are demanding answers,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California), the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement. Trump is mentioned elsewhere in the “birthday book.” A partially redacted photograph shows Epstein holding a novelty check with a signature line reading “DJTRUMP.” Text below the photo reads: “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the photo and text. Even before the “birthday book” controversy took these turns, the heat was on Johnson. The speaker told reporters last week that Trump cared deeply about the crimes Epstein committed and said that the President “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.” Johnson wasn’t the first Republican to make that claim: Rep. Nancy Mace (South Carolina) also said last week that Trump was “an FBI informant” who “talked to the feds to get this guy turned over.” The comments quickly ricocheted around Capitol Hill, and it took only a few days for Johnson to fully back away from the claim. “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,” a Sunday statement from Johnson’s office said, referencing comments a lawyer for some of Epstein’s accusers made while visiting Capitol Hill last week. Asked on Monday, Johnson backed away from the “informant” claim again. “I don’t know if I used the right terminology,” Johnson said, but later added, “This is much ado about nothing.” The speaker is a man caught in between a president who has labeled the focus on Epstein a “Democrat hoax that never ends,” and a GOP base eager for the answers on Epstein that they’ve been promised for years. The answers given thus far have been unsatisfying to many right-wing pundits, even when they have come from the Trump administration. A July Justice Department memo that rebutted many conspiracy theories about Epstein only led to fresh demands for public access to the government’s Epstein files, for instance. Johnson insists he and the president are all for transparency and that they back the House Oversight Committee’s efforts to subpoena documents related to the case. The committee’s Republicans made public a trove of Justice Department and court files related to Epstein last week. Democrats on the committee claim they had to pressure the committee’s Republican chair to issue the subpoenas, and the first batch of documents released to the public was mostly already publicly available or heavily redacted. A bipartisan mix of lawmakers is working to force a vote on a bill that would compel the federal government to release all its files around the investigation into Epstein and his death. Those behind the effort — Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) — are confident they will get the 218 member signatures they need to compel Johnson to address the bill after special elections in Virginia and Arizona, which are likely to add two new Democratic members to the House. All of this leaves Johnson in a delicate place. Staying in the president’s good graces and keeping a finger on the pulse of members are important for any speaker, but especially one like Johnson, who rose to power unexpectedly after his predecessor was summarily cast aside by his caucus. Losing the support of either the president or his lawmakers could put Johnson’s tenure in jeopardy. And maintaining the support of the base will be instrumental as Johnson tries to keep GOP control of the House in next year’s midterms. That means Johnson can’t go all in on the Epstein files but can’t ignore calls for their release either: He needs to keep everyone happy. We asked Johnson’s team about this awkward moment for him. They did not respond to our request for comment. | 
