Lisa Phillips, an accuser of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said it was “shocking and upsetting” for her to hear President Trump call their Capitol Hill push for transparency a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.
“For me, personally, it was shocking and upsetting. I just — I couldn’t believe that he said that,” Phillips said on CNN’s “AC360” when asked for her reaction to Trump’s comments.
The former model noted Trump has long supported the effort to release documents related to Epstein, so his response “confused” her.
“Just for so many years, he acknowledged that there were thousands of files, and he was going to release them,” she told CNN. “And so, hearing that today, I was just confused by it.”
Victims of Epstein’s abuse gathered outside the Capitol on Wednesday in a dramatic press conference, where they offered emotional testimony about their experiences, hammered the government for keeping the files under wraps and accused lawmakers who opposed the release of documents of shielding a group of rich and powerful people from accountability.
Phillips also described being taken to Epstein’s private island in 2000.
“We are not asking for pity. We are here demanding accountability, and I’m demanding justice,” Phillips told the crowd. “Congress must choose: Will you continue to protect predators, or will you finally protect survivors?”
She also suggested the accusers could compile their own list of clients after the Trump administration determined earlier this summer Epstein did not keep one.
In the interview later Wednesday, Phillips made clear their intention was not to target the president.
“I think he thought that we were targeting him, and we weren’t,” she said. “I don’t believe there’s any evidence that he abused any of the survivors. So, it wasn’t a target against him. It was just, you know, a cry for us being fed up and wanting answers.”
As the victims spoke on Capitol Hill, Trump dismissed the outcry over the Epstein files as “a hoax,” concocted by Democrats to harm 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,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
Other Epstein victims also pushed back on Trump’s characterization. One of them, Haley Robson, said she’s a registered Republican and challenged the president to meet with her during her visit to Washington.
“These women are real. We’re here in person,” she said. “There is no hoax. The abuse was real.”