Epstein survivors say they'll compile their own 'list' of clients

On Wednesday, several of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims — including some who had never spoken publicly before — participated in a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, hoping to push for a complete and total release of all the Epstein files. Some even threatened to compile their own “list” of his clients.

This came after the U.S. House Oversight Committee publicly posted files on Tuesday that it received from the Justice Department on the sex trafficking investigations into the late convicted sex offender Epstein and his former girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

California Rep. Ro Khanna said the purpose of the press conference was so women could “tell their story … say clearly to the American public that they want the release of the Epstein files for full closure on this matter.”

Epstein accuser Haley Robson said she wanted to “acknowledge all the women who could not be here today.” She told the crowd not to forget the “voices that were silenced.”

“The FBI knows the truth, the government knows the truth … but we are the keys, we know who was involved … we know the players,” Robson added.

Jess Michaels, who said she was raped by Epstein in 1991, told the crowd she thought she was “the only one.”

“But I wasn’t the only one; none of us were,” she said.

“This moment began with Epstein’s crimes but it is going to be remembered for survivors demanding justice, demanding truth, demanding accountability. And we will not stop.”

Lawyer Arick Fudali said Maxwell should not have been “rewarded” with a “minimum security resort” while she is in jail. Fudali demanded that the government release the full Epstein files.

“No more slow-rolling … release the files,” he said, adding that it is necessary in order to give the victims “the accountability, exposure and closure” they deserve.

Republican Thomas Massie took the podium next, and said he hoped his colleagues were listening to the press conference.

“I want them to think, what if this was your sister, what if this was your daughter?” he said.

Massie said the files released by the department on Tuesday are “heavily redacted,” and that “97 per cent of this is already in the public domain.”

He added that perpetrators are currently being protected because they are “rich and powerful.”

Anouska De Georgiou, who introduced herself as a survivor of Epstein and Maxwell, said that “the days of sweeping this under the rug is over. We, the survivors, say ‘no more.’”

Georgiou said the birth of her daughter pushed her to testify and to “use my voice, the voice that had been silenced.”

She urged members of Congress to support the bill to end secrecy and said the “only motive to oppose this bill would be to conceal wrongdoing.”

Georgiou spoke directly to U.S. President Donald Trump, saying, “You have so much influence and power in this situation. Please use that influence and power to help us because we need it now and this country needs it now.”

Lisa Phillips, who said she was taken to Epstein’s Island while on a photoshoot at a nearby island, announced that the 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 we all know who rarely and who were regularly in the Epstein world. And it will be done by survivors and for survivors. No one else is involved,” Phillips revealed.

Chauntae Davies said she was a survivor of “decades of pain, trauma and betrayal at the hands of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein and the people who enabled them.”

Davies said that Epstein “bragged about his powerful friends, including our current president, Donald Trump.”

“His biggest brag forever was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump. He had an 8-by-10 framed picture of him on his desk with the two of them,” Davies added.

“While what I endured will haunt me forever, I live every day with PTSD. I live as a mother trying to raise my child while distrusting a world that has betrayed me. This kind of trauma never leaves you. It breaks families apart,” she said.

Trump dismissed the renewed calls for the full release of the files and referred to it as a “Democrat hoax.”

“This is a Democrat hoax that never ends,” Trump said Wednesday. “We’ve given thousands of pages of files, and I know that no matter what you do, it’s going to keep going and going.”

He also argued that the effort to get the files released is distracting from his administration’s successes.

“What they’re trying to do with the Epstein hoax is get people to talk about that,” he added. “We’re having the most successful eight months of any president ever, and that’s what I want to talk about. That’s what we should be talking about, not the Epstein hoax.”

The documents released on Tuesday, which are part of what’s known colloquially as “the Epstein files,” were shared in response to mounting pressure in Congress to force more disclosure in the case and included 33,295 pages of records, which were referred to as a first batch of documents from the Justice Department.

The files were released on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and mostly contained information that was already publicly known or available. Posted on Google Drive, they contained hundreds of image files of years-old court filings related to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he faced charges of sexually abusing teenage girls, and Maxwell, who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for assisting him.

The files also included video appearing to be bodycam footage from police searches, as well as recordings and summaries of law enforcement interviews with victims detailing the abuse they said they suffered.

They also included audio of an Epstein employee describing to a law enforcement official how “there were a lot of girls that were very, very young” visiting Epstein’s home but couldn’t say for sure if they were minors. The employee said more than a dozen girls might visit Epstein’s home and he was charged with cleaning the room where Epstein had massages, twice daily.

According to NBC News, the previously released files include video and audio of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Maxwell, video from inside Epstein’s home in West Palm Beach, Fla., after Palm Beach police executed a search warrant, video from inside the jailhouse where Epstein died by suicide in 2019 and audio taken by Palm Beach police pertaining to their initial investigation into Epstein.

Some of the files were almost entirely redacted and other documents included information related to Epstein’s Florida prosecution, including emails between the defence and prosecutors over the conditions of Epstein’s probation after his conviction.

The probable cause affidavit and other records from the 2005 investigation into Epstein contained a notation indicating that they’d been previously released in a 2017 public records request.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, criticized people on the panel for releasing material that he said consisted of already available information.

“The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents James Comer has decided to ‘release’ were already mostly public information. To the American people — don’t let this fool you,” Garcia said in a statement.

Garcia claimed that “the files and the full report” were sitting on the attorney general’s desk “ready to be released.”

“We know that the Attorney General herself has shared with the President directly that he was also in the files. The reason — and we don’t understand why — this cover up by the President continues to not release the full files,” Garcia said.

“We continue to bring the pressure. We’re not going to stop until we get justice for all of the survivors and the victims.”

https://x.com/RepRobertGarcia/status/1963018101957820593

The committee’s release of the files showed how lawmakers are eager to act on the issue as they return to Washington after a month-long break. U.S. House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to end an effort by Democrats and some Republicans to force a vote on a bill that would require the Justice Department to release all the information in the Epstein files, with the exception of the victims’ personal information.

On Tuesday, Johnson and a group of lawmakers met with survivors of abuse by Epstein and Maxwell on Capitol Hill.

“The objective here is not just to uncover, investigate the Epstein evils, but also to ensure that this never happens again and ultimately to find out why justice has been delayed for these ladies for so very long,” Johnson said after he emerged from a two-hour meeting with six of the survivors.

“It is inexcusable. And it will stop now because the Congress is dialled in on this.”

— With files from The Associated Press

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