Anna Paulina Luna

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said in an interview Friday that it's possible convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was working in intelligence.

Luna discussed the release of the Department of Justice's files on Epstein in an interview with The New York Times.

"I discovered a document in going through some of the records unredacted over at the D.O.J., and he did have an alias," the Times quoted Luna as saying. "It was a passport, and his address was located, I think, in Saudi Arabia."

"I believe it was an Austrian passport," Luna added. "And that was in his safe that he had with a bunch of other cash, diamonds, et cetera."

"Most people don't have a completely fake name in a safe with that type of information," Luna continued. "He definitely had intel connections.

"I think the guy dealt in intelligence and exchange of information."

The lawmaker said she is curious if any evidence was destroyed that related to Epstein's possible espionage activities.

"This type of operation could not have existed without the intelligence agencies knowing about it, so what exactly was he doing?" Luna said.

Luna also defended President Donald Trump, who had been friends with Epstein and was initially opposed to having the files released.

Trump later signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Nov. 19, requiring DOJ to publish nearly all unclassified materials within 30 days.

"When he said, 'Democratic hoax' … when you have someone that's accusing you of trafficking people and saying that you are a rapist, that you are going to get upset and you're going to call it — like, if I was being accused of that, I would probably say the same thing," Luna said.

"However, I want to be clear that my conversations with him were not personal and nasty, and I was the biggest proponent of releasing these things," Luna added.