One of the disgraced financiers’ accusers warns that survivors are compiling their own list of the wealthy and powerful men who abused them
Seeing dozens of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims speaking on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington was powerful, moving and an important reminder of what the story is really about.
They urged Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act to release all documents related to the paedophile, who hanged himself while awaiting trial in 2019.
Donald Trump’s administration tried to shut the story down in early July but instead it exploded, leading to outrage among his supporters and culminating in a gathering of more than 100 Epstein survivors in the nation’s capitol.
They included women who had never spoken about their abuse, including one who said that from the ages of 14 to 17 she worked full time for Epstein, being abused by him.
Standing in the baking hot later summer sun in Washington they urged Trump to order his party to make everything public.
But here’s where things get complicated.
Given that he has remade the Republican Party in his own image, whatever the President decrees will happen. Trump could be conflicted because there may be some embarrassing material about him he doesn’t want released.
Even the report in the Wall Street Journal about Trump’s message to Epstein, in the paedophile’s 50th birthday card from 2003, was enough to cause the White House palpitations.
The drawing showed a woman’s breasts and a “Donald” signature where the pubic hair should be, and the message: “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump has denied it was him and is suing the Journal for $20bn (£14.9bn) over the story.
Epstein’s victims clearly cannot rely on Congress’s House Oversight Committee, which on Tuesday released the first tranche of files it obtained from the Department of Justice.
The problem was that almost all of the 33,000 documents had already been made public, and some of the material – interviews with Epstein’s victims from his original investigation in 2006 – was 19 years old.
Where there was new material, such as flight logs from Epstein’s planes, it was rendered useless owing to heavy redactions.
That leaves the words said by Epstein’s victims all the more poignant – and potentially for nothing.
Annie Farmer, who was sexually assaulted by Epstein and his “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell, said: “We are not going away, we are not going to be quiet and we are not going to give up.”
Anouska De Georgiou, a British survivor, spoke directly to Trump and said: “President Trump, you have so much influence and power in this situation. Please use that to help us because we need it now’.
Haley Robson, another survivor, addressed claims by the President that the scandal was a “Democrat hoax”.
She said: “I cordially invite you to meet me in person to understand this is not a hoax. We are real human beings. There is no hoax. The abuse was real. I’d be more than happy to meet with him”.
The most emotional moment was when Sky Roberts, the brother of Virginia Giuffre, addressing members of Congress, said: “Our plea to you… look your young ones in the face, look them in the eye and tell them you didn’t stand against the very people who raped, molested and preyed upon children and young women.
“Tell them you were willing to negotiate a deal. Money should never be something that makes something right or wrong.”
Giuffre sued Prince Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein – a claim Andrew has denied.
She killed herself in April at the age of 41 amid turmoil in her private life and a split from her husband, who she claimed was abusive. Robert Giuffre has not publicly commented on the allegations.
Some of Epstein’s victims have lived with the trauma of his abuse for 20 or 30 years now.
It seems the Trump administration is intent on making them wait even longer for justice – unless the President intervenes.
In the meantime, the closest we could get to the truth came in a warning from Lisa Phillips, one of Epstein’s victims who said she and the other survivors were compiling their own list of the wealthy and powerful men who abused them.
“Stay tuned for more on that,” she said.
