Women who said they were sexually abused by deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein commanded the attention of Capitol Hill on Wednesday as they urged Congress to pass legislation to expose the extent of his alleged sex trafficking network.
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) called the press conference outside the Capitol and were joined by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and the sexual abuse survivors asking for passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which would force the full release of the criminal files with redactions to protect the victims.
Recommended Stories
- WATCH LIVE: House Speaker Mike Johnson holds press conference
- WATCH LIVE: Khanna and Massie hold press conference with 10 Epstein victims
- House GOP leadership fights back against discharge petitions
Many survivors spoke outside of the Capitol in a press event that Greene said was the biggest in crowd size of her time in Congress. It was the day after Massie and Khanna introduced a petition to force a vote on their transparency bill, saying they would not be silenced until the full files are released.
“The only motive for opposing this bill would be to conceal wrongdoing,” survivor Anouska De Georgiou said at the press conference. “You have a choice to stand with the truth or with the lies that have protected predators for decades.
“I am no longer weak, I am no longer powerless, and I’m no longer alone, and with your vote, neither will the next generation be. President Trump, 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.”
The survivors were accompanied by large demonstrations outside the Capitol, holding signs and joining them to call for a full release of the files.
Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Nancy Mace (R-SC), and Greene signed on to the discharge petition after Mace left a House Oversight Committee meeting with the victims in tears. Along with Massie, they are the only Republicans on the petition as of Wednesday morning.
The so-called “discharge petition” must reach 218 signatures for it to force the speaker to call a vote on it. After the petition reaches that threshold, the member can call a vote after seven legislative days. Most, if not all, Democrats are expected to sign on to the petition, meaning only six Republicans would need to cross party lines to add their names.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House leadership, and the White House are fighting back. First, Johnson added a new bill to the floor this week that would direct the House Oversight Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation” into Epstein, in leadership’s latest effort to appease the members of the GOP caucus on the issue. Then, the Oversight Committee later released 33,000 pages on Epstein, just hours after the discharge petition opened. Next, the White House sent a political warning to Republicans who tried to join Massie’s effort.
Trump and the Justice Department have sought to move past the Epstein files, following public fallout when the department announced after the July 4 weekend that it had no plans to make any further documents available and affirming that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges related to sex trafficking of minors.
HOUSE RETURNS TO PACKED SCHEDULE, LONG TO-DO LIST, AND EPSTEIN DRAMA
The DOJ has also denied the existence of a so-called “client list.”
“Passing this Epstein transparency bill is one important step that can be taken to prove to Americans that the government does not side with sexual perpetrators,” said Annie Farmer, who alleges that she was 16 when Epstein sexually abused her.