A number of victims of Jeffrey Epstein appeared on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to ship a easy message to Congress: Drive the Trump administration to launch all of the federal recordsdata on the late financier and convicted intercourse offender.
In a dramatic press convention simply steps from the Capitol, the survivors of Epstein’s decades-long abuse provided emotional testimony about their experiences, hammered the federal government for protecting the recordsdata underneath wraps, and accused these lawmakers opposing the discharge of defending a bunch of wealthy and highly effective individuals from accountability.
“We are not asking for pity. We are here demanding accountability, and I’m demanding justice,” stated Lisa Phillips, who stated she was taken to Epstein’s non-public island in 2000. “Congress should select: Will you proceed to guard predators, or will you lastly shield survivors?”
One of many victims additionally highlighted the ties between Epstein and President Trump, who had related in the identical social circles in Florida and New York years in the past, saying Epstein regularly bragged concerning the intimacy of that relationship.
“Jeffrey and Ghislaine were always very boastful about their friends, their famous or powerful friends, and his biggest brag, forever, was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump,” stated Chauntae Davies. “He had an 8×10 image of him on his desk, with the 2 of them.
“They have been very shut.”
The victims are pushing lawmakers to move a decision, sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), requiring the administration to launch nearly all of the federal recordsdata associated to the federal investigation of Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s serving 20 years in jail for crimes associated to the sexual abuse of minors.
That laws is opposed by Trump and Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has provided another proposal designed to bolster an Epstein investigation already underway within the Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee.
Supporters of the Massie-Khanna strategy, together with the victims who appeared on the Capitol on Wednesday, have rejected Johnson’s various invoice, saying it lacks the tooth to compel the Justice Division to launch paperwork the administration doesn’t need revealed.
“Their resolution doesn’t really do anything, and that’s the oldest trick in the swamp,” Massie stated. “Once you wish to kill the momentum, … you launch a placebo — a special invoice that does nothing — after which attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the American individuals.
“That is not going to occur this time.”
Whilst they spoke, Trump dismissed the outcry over the Epstein recordsdata as “a hoax,” concocted by Democrats, to hurt him politically.
“It’s really a Democrat hoax, because they’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president,” Trump advised reporters within the Oval Workplace.
The Epstein victims pushed again arduous towards Trump’s characterization. One in all them, Haley Robson, stated she’s a registered Republican and challenged Trump to satisfy along with her throughout her go to to Washington.
“These women are real. We’re here in person,” she stated. “There is no hoax. The abuse was real.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), an in depth Trump ally, has damaged sharply with the president on the Epstein case. She appeared alongside the victims on Wednesday and praised them for coming ahead. She additionally acknowledged the issue of naming the names of highly effective figures — “These are some of the richest, most powerful people in the world that can sue these women into poverty and homelessness,” she stated — however provided to learn the names of their abusers herself from the Home ground.
“In the event that they wish to give me a listing, I’ll stroll in that Capitol on the Home ground, and I am going to say each rattling identify that abused these ladies,” Greene stated.
Individually, Phillips stated the group of survivors is within the means of compiling a listing of abusers primarily based on their very own experiences, which they could or not make public sooner or later.
“We know the names. Many of us were abused by them,” she stated. “Stay tuned for more details.”
The looks of the victims on Capitol Hill places new stress on Home Republicans to convey the Massie-Khanna invoice to the ground, or not less than to endorse a procedural instrument, often known as a discharge petition, requiring a vote on the invoice if 218 lawmakers signal on.
As a result of all 212 Home Democrats are anticipated to endorse the petition, supporters will want six Republicans to pressure that vote. 4 have already joined the trouble — GOP Reps. Massie, Greene, Nancy Mace (S.C.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.) — leaving them two shy of their purpose.
“There’s 200 Republicans who could do something to get justice for the victims and survivors, and I only need two,” Massie stated. “Eighty percent of Republicans support releasing these files, so they’re at odds with our base right now.”
Johnson and the members of the Oversight Committee had huddled with a number of the Epstein victims a day earlier within the Capitol. However there seemed to be completely different interpretations concerning the message the survivors despatched in that assembly. Mace left the gathering showing visibly upset and rapidly endorsed the discharge petition. However Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who has co-sponsored the underlying transparency laws, stated the victims “made very clear” that they didn’t need extra recordsdata launched.
The survivors who appeared with Massie and Khanna on Wednesday disputed that declare. To the particular person, they stated they need all of the recordsdata launched, so long as private info is redacted.
“In the Oversight meeting yesterday, they indicated they were all for transparency, releasing the files and asked us to hold them accountable,” stated Bradley Edwards, a lawyer representing most of the victims. “So we intend to hold them accountable.”
The Epstein case has emerged as an infinite downside for Trump, who had campaigned on strategies that he would launch all of the recordsdata on the case, then appointed prime figures within the DOJ who had additionally fueled the theories concerning the authorities defending a world cabal of “elites” with ties to Epstein’s crimes. They vowed to unravel the scandal.
In July, nonetheless, the DOJ issued an unsigned memo declaring that the case was closed and there have been no extra recordsdata to launch — a transfer that infuriated many Trump’s most loyal supporters and sparked accusations that Trump was making an attempt to bury his personal connections to Epstein.
Massie stated he doesn’t assume Trump is featured in a trove of redacted DOJ paperwork that have been launched by the Oversight Committee on Tuesday. However predicted that a few of Trump’s shut associates seemingly are.
“I don’t think he’s implicated in these files,” he stated. “But I think his donors are. I think his friends are.”
Up to date at 2:42 p.m.
