‘Shameful’: Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse push for US transparency
Survivors who endured abuse at the hands of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein gathered on the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, to demand greater transparency from the federal government.
Their appearance came as a bipartisan group of legislators pushed to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a bill that would force Attorney General Pam Bondi to publish all unclassified information about the Epstein case.On Wednesday, those legislators appeared side by side with the survivors, who shared their stories with supporters on the Capitol steps.
“This is about ending secrecy wherever abuse of power takes root,” said Anouska De Georgiou, a model who has spoken publicly about her experiences as a teenager being groomed and raped by Epstein.
She called upon Congress not only to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act but to commit to helping survivors of sexual violence through legal aid and other forms of support.
“To be clear, the only motive for opposing this bill would be to conceal wrongdoing,” de Georgiou told the lawmakers. “You have a choice. Stand with the truth or with the lies that have protected predators for decades.”Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell in 2019, but he is believed to have abused hundreds of underage girls during his decades as a high-powered financier.
Questions have lingered over how he could have evaded justice for so long and whether his vast network of powerful contacts played a role.Donald Trump was among those Epstein appeared to have encountered socially, and the case has become a thorn in the side for the United States president.
As he campaigned for re-election last year, Trump teased he would release more files from the federal Epstein investigation should he win a second term. In September 2024, for instance, he told podcaster Lex Fridman he would “take a look” at releasing the files.But since he took office in January, Trump’s supporters have been underwhelmed by the lack of revelations in the documents his administration has released.
Certain administration statements have also fuelled the conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s crimes. Rumours have long swirled that Epstein kept a client list to blackmail powerful people in government and industry.
And in February, Attorney General Bondi told Fox News such a list was “sitting on my desk right now”.
But in July, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation jointly denied the existence of a client list and said there was no evidence of blackmail.
On Wednesday, Republican House Representative Nancy Mace suggested that Britain’s Prince Andrew, a former associate of Epstein who was accused of sexual abuse by Virginia Giuffre, should be prosecuted for crimes on US soil.
“A cold dark cell. Prince Andrew in handcuffs. Sends the right message,” Mace said on X.
Andrew, who denied wrongdoing, was not charged with any crime. He reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022.
Trump has sought to dispel scrutiny that his name might appear in unreleased files from the Epstein case.
On Wednesday, in an Oval Office meeting with the president of Poland, Trump was asked about the news conference happening outside in support of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
He responded by framing the attention on Epstein as a politically motivated attempt to discredit his administration.
“So this is a Democrat hoax that never ends. You know, it reminds me a little of the Kennedy situation,” Trump said, referencing his release of files related to the assassination of former President John F Kennedy.
“We gave them everything over and over again, more and more and more, and nobody’s ever satisfied.”
Trump continued by saying that the Epstein case was a distraction from his administration’s work.
“They’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president,” Trump said, adding that “it’s enough”.
