Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have engaged in a full-fledged push to garner the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender and sex trafficker — even as President Donald Trump pushes Republicans to oppose the move.
Numerous survivors of Epstein’s trafficking – which was facilitated by his close friend Ghislaine Maxwell – on Wednesday held a press conference on Capitol Hill with Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) as well as MAGA firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
The press conference was called as Massie, an outspoken critic of the president, filed a discharge petition on Monday to release the Epstein files. If a majority of members sign the petition, it would force a full floor vote without going through committee or approval from leadership.
At the press conference, Massie criticized Trump for repeatedly calling the investigation a hoax, something he did from the Oval Office even as the survivors were rallying.
“I think it’s shameful that this has been called a hoax,” Massie said, flanked by Epstein survivors, many of hwo were minors when their ordeals began. “Hopefully, today, we can clear that up. This is not a hoax. This is real. There are real victims.”
So far, Greene and two other Republicans – Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Nancy Mace of South Carolina – have joined the discharge petition.
“The truth we are demanding come out on behalf of these women but also as a strong message to every innocent child, teenager, woman and man that has been held captive in abuse,” Greene said at her press conference.
A day earlier, Mace, a rape survivor, walked out of her meeting with survivors visibly shaken.
“I didn’t last the entire session,” she told The Independent. “I don’t have a lot to offer other than it’s deeply sad and traumatizing to see these women have been fighting for 30 years for justice and still don’t have it goes to show how broken the system is. Yeah, and I think we should burn it to the ground and start over.”
But Republicans who might otherwise support a discharge petition have proven to be wobbly on the matter. On Tuesday evening, the House Oversight Committee released 30,000 pages of documents related to Epstein, nearly all of it information tat had already been publicly known.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told The Independent that it might render the investigation repetitive.
“So I think it’s probably a moot point or a mute point, whichever the case may be,” Burchett told The Independent on Tuesday evening.
But Massie pushed back on the idea.
“Look, if my legislation were redundant, why would the White House be trying to stop it?” he told The Independent on Tuesday. “It’s not redundant. There are things that the White House doesn’t want out there that my legislation would cause to be released.”
Sigrid McCauley, one of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse, said the release of the files was only one step.
“ I think was a step in the right direction. But there’s so much more to be released and that’s what we’re really hoping for,” she told The Independent.
Trump for his part has pushed against the effort, telling NBC News that teaming up with Democrats and Massie would constitute a “hostile act.”
Teresa J Helm, one of the Epstein survivors, pushed back on the words when asked by The Independent.
“The hostility is in the crimes that have been committed against all of us,” she told The Independent. “So there’s not hostility in trying to protect ourselves, plus future generations and our own kids.”
In response to the press conference, Trump lashed out, calling the Epstein files a “Democrat hoax.” Trump has been plagued by the Epstein investigation ever since last year, when he was asked on Fox News if he would declassify the files. In July, the Department of Justice and the FBI released a two-page memo saying Epstein did not have a “client list” and likely killed himself in prison.
But Sky Roberts, the brother of Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, had a clear message for the president.
“I would say, do the right thing. I mean, that’s the first thing that comes in mind for me,” he told The Independent. “It is the biggest cover up in the history of the United States. And I think it’s time for us to stand with the people, it’s time to stand with the survivors and we need to tell them we believe you.”
