The testimonies of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse sparked one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters to mount pressure on politicians to force the release of the sex trafficking investigation.
In a news conference on the Capitol lawn that drew hundreds of supporters and chants of ‘release the files’, the women shared – some publicly for the first time – how they were lured into Epstein’s abuse by his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
They demanded that the Trump administration provide transparency and accountability for what they said they endured as teenagers.
Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is closely aligned with Trump, expressed fervent support for a Bill that would force the Justice Department to release the information it has against Epstein.
‘If they want to give me a list, I will walk into that Capitol on the House floor and I’ll say every damn name that abused these women,’ she said.
‘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.’
Republican Nancy Mace was seen walking away in tears after hearing the testimonies of many Epstein survivors.
Politicians have been battling over how Congress should delve into the Epstein saga while the Republican president, after initially signalling support for transparency on the campaign trail, dismissed it as a ‘hoax’.
But the survivors on Capitol Hill, as well as at least one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, disagreed. Some of the women pleaded for Trump to support their cause.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that said he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
Epstein was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them.
Maxwell, Epstein’s long-time confidant and former girlfriend, was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for luring teenage girls for him to abuse.
The Oversight Committee on Tuesday night released what it said was the first tranche of documents and files it has received from the Justice Department on the Epstein case.
The folders – posted on Google Drive – contained hundreds of image files of years-old court filings related to Epstein, but contained nothing new.
Still, the survivors saw this moment as their best chance in years to gain some justice for what had been done by Epstein.
‘Justice and accountability are not favours from the powerful. They are obligations decades overdue,’ Jess Michaels, a survivor who said she was first abused by Epstein in 1991, told the rally.
‘This moment began with Epstein’s crimes. But it’s going to be remembered for survivors demanding justice, demanding truth, demanding accountability.’
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