WASHINGTON — Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse gathered in front of the Capitol Wednesday, demanding the release of all files related to Epstein, as bipartisan lawmakers push for transparency.
The group of survivors, joined by lawmakers from both parties, called for the full release of the Epstein files, citing the need for justice and accountability.
“The days of sweeping this under the rug are over. We, the survivors, say ‘no’,” said Anouska De Georgiou, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein.
“I would like people to see us for who we are and to hear us for what we have to say. There is no hoax,” said Haley Robson, another survivor of Epstein.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act, co-sponsored by bipartisan lawmakers, aims to force a vote on the House floor to release these documents.
Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is usually closely aligned with Trump, described her support for a bill that would force the Justice Department to release the information it has compiled on Epstein and Maxwell as a moral fight against sexual predation.
“This isn’t one political party or the other. It’s a culmination of everyone working together to silence these women and protect Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal,” Greene said. “The shame falls on those who allowed Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes to continue unchecked.”
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Greene has long called for the release of the Epstein files.
She also told reporters that she had spoken with Trump on Wednesday to tell him that he should host the survivors in the Oval Office, “not any of Jeffrey Epstein’s rich, powerful friends.”
Greene is one of four Republicans — three of them women — who have defied House GOP leadership and the White House in an effort to force a vote on their bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to quash the effort by putting forward his own resolution and arguing that a concurrent investigation by the House Oversight Committee is the best way for Congress to deliver transparency.
The survivors, who claim to have suffered sexual abuse and trafficking at the hands of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, shared their firsthand accounts during the gathering.
A petition has been filed to force a vote on the House floor to release all the Epstein files, although Johnson has blocked the vote despite expressing support for releasing the files.
Meanwhile, the White House was warning House members that support for the bill to require the DOJ to release the files would be seen as a hostile act.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who is pressing for the bill, said that the White House was sending that message because “They’ve dug in.”
“They decided they don’t want it released,” he said. “It’s a political threat.”
“No matter what you do it’s going to keep going,” Trump said Wednesday. He added, “Really, I think it’s enough.”
But with Trump sending a strong message and Republican leadership moving forward with an alternative resolution, Massie was left looking for support from at least two more Republicans willing to cross political lines.
It would take six GOP members, as well as all House Democrats, to force a vote on their bill. And even if that passes the House, it would still need to pass the Senate and be signed by Trump.
Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime confidant and former girlfriend, was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for luring teenage girls for him to abuse.
Four women testified at her trial that they were abused by Epstein as teens in the 1990s and early 2000s at his homes in Florida, New York and New Mexico. The allegations have also spawned dozens of lawsuits.
The survivors who spoke on Wednesday expressed outrage over Maxwell’s transfer to a prison camp after her cooperation with the Department of Justice, with one survivor describing it as a ‘prison spa.’
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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