Survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and other wealthy elites gathered Wednesday in Washington, D.C., to demand accountability and the release of more information related to Epstein’s network of sexual abuse. One survivor said she was part of a group creating their own list of names of Epstein associates based on their own stories.
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) joined Epstein’s victims and their families at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, and called on Donald Trump’s Justice Department to release more information. While the administration has released thousands of documents, under pressure from Democrats and Republicans, they have failed to present new revelations. Trump, who pledged during the 2024 campaign he would release the so-called Epstein files, had a long and well-documented friendship with Epstein.
“Less than one percent of these files have been released,” Khanna said. “We are demanding today on the discharge petition that all of the files be released.”
He said that 212 Democrats and four Republicans are backing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a discharge petition that calls on the DOJ to release all unclassified records related to Epstein and Maxwell. They need 218 signatures total. Republican leadership is backing an alternative route through the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The committee released 33,000 documents on Tuesday, but they have not provided the answers that survivors are looking for.
“Today, we stand with survivors,” Khanna said. “We stand against big money. We stand to protect America’s children. That is really what this is about.”
“I’m demanding justice,” Lisa Phillips, a model who was brought to Epstein’s island in 2000, told the crowd. “Congress must choose. Will you continue to protect predators? Or will you finally protect survivors?”
“I would like to announce here today,” she continued, “us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list. We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names who were regularly in the Epstein world. And it will be done by survivors and for survivors, no one else is involved.”
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“We are the keys to this situation,” said survivor Haley Robson. “We have the truth, and the FBI knows the truth, the government knows the truth. You may pull the wool over the sheep’s eyes. But we are the keys. We know who was involved. We know the game. We know the players, and we are sitting here for 20 years waiting for you to get up and do something. Well, guess what? Your time is up and now we’re doing it.”
Marina Lacerda — a survivor who was named as Minor Victim One in Epstein’s 2019 federal indictment and provided key evidence that helped put Epstein behind bars — spoke publicly for the first time about the abuse. She said there are many parts of her own story she cannot remember.
“It’s so hard to begin to heal knowing that there are people out there who know more about my abuse than I do,” she said. “The worst part is that the government is still in possession right now of the documents and information that could help me remember and get over all of this, maybe, and help me heal. They have documents with my name on them that were confiscated from Jeffrey Epstein’s house, and could help me put the pieces of my own life back together. But I don’t have any of it, and I know the same is true for many of these women.”
Sky Roberts, the brother of prominent Epstein survivor Virgina Giuffre — who died by suicide in April — laid out three demands: “Ghislaine Maxwell must remain in a maximum security prison for the rest of her life,” Roberts said. “No leniency, no deals, no special treatment. The Epstein documents must be unsealed. Every name, every detail, no more secrets, no more protection for those who preyed on the vulnerable. And finally, we demand full accountability from every enabler, every accomplice, every person in power who turned a blind eye.”
Attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented 27 survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and some alleged victims of Ghislaine Maxwell, said the survivors are “overdue for justice.” She questioned the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death in prison in 2019.
“I saw him at the last hearing in federal court,” Allred said. “And so many victims and so many survivors thought, ‘At last, there’s justice,’ but instead of justice, there was a dead body [at] the Metropolitan Correctional Center. And questions are still being asked, ‘Was it suicide? Was it homicide?’ But the victims never got to testify at trial. Confront that sexual predator. Was that justice?”
“We’re overdue for justice. We’re not going to be waiting for justice. We are fighting for justice.”
From Rolling Stone US
