Jeffrey Epstein victims join lawmakers on Capitol Hill calling on Trump for transparency: ‘No leniency, no deals’

Dozens of victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and their families joined lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to call for more transparency from President Trump and his administration in its handling of the case.

"No leniency, no deals, no special treatment,” Sky Roberts, brother of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who was one of Epstein's most well-known victims, said at a rally near the Capitol. “The Epstein documents must be unsealed. Every name, every detail. No more secrets, no more protection for those who preyed on the vulnerable.”

“We demand full accountability from every enabler, every accomplice, every person in power who turned a blind eye,” Roberts added.

As many as 100 women who say they were abused by Epstein participated in the rally and a subsequent press conference organized by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who are leading a bipartisan congressional effort to force the U.S. Department of Justice to release all of the files from its criminal investigations into the late disgraced financier and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Victims recount decades of ‘terror’ and ‘trauma’

“It felt like somebody shut out the lights to my soul,” recalled Epstein accuser Liz Stein, who said she was a college senior when Maxwell introduced her to Epstein. “Instead of fulfilling my dream of going to law school after graduation, overcoming the terror and the trauma that was inflicted on me by these sex traffickers became my decades-long full-time career.”

Stein said there must be accountability for anyone who helped Epstein abuse his victims.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is a crime,” she said. “The criminals must be held accountable.”

“Justice and accountability are not favors from the powerful. They are obligations decades overdue,” Jess Michaels, another survivor, said at the rally. “This moment began with Epstein’s crimes. But it’s going to be remembered for survivors demanding justice, demanding truth, demanding accountability.”

Epstein died by suicide in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell was convicted in 2020 of helping the disgraced financier sexually abuse underage girls and is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison.

The bipartisan gathering on Capitol Hill came a day after the House Oversight Committee released more than 33,000 files related to Epstein that it received from the Justice Department. But critics quickly pointed out that most of the files contained information that was already publicly known or available — and demanded full transparency.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released in late July found nearly 70% of Americans — including a majority of Republicans — think the government is hiding something about Epstein.

Why is there a focus on Epstein now?

The case came under scrutiny earlier this year when President Trump directed the Justice Department to conduct an exhaustive review of any evidence collected in its investigation. Epstein has long been the focus of conspiracy theories that claim Epstein was murdered to conceal the names of powerful people on a secret “client list.”

In July, the DOJ and FBI released a two-page joint memo, concluding that Epstein “committed suicide in his cell" and had no such “client list,” adding that there would be no further disclosures in the case. The announcement enraged some Trump loyalists, who accused the president and his administration of breaking their promise to release all of the Epstein files, and put Trump’s relationship with Epstein back in the spotlight.

In early August, members of the DOJ and FBI interviewed Maxwell in prison, leading to speculation that she could be seeking a pardon.

"If Ghislaine Maxwell were pardoned, it would undermind all the sacrifices I made to testify and make a mockery of mine and all survivors suffering," Anouska De Georgiou, who was a victim of both Epstein and Maxwell, said at the rally.

Meanwhile, Trump responded by lashing out at his supporters over their continued interest in the case, repeatedly referring to it as the “Epstein hoax.”

He made similar comments in the Oval Office on Wednesday, blaming Democrats for the “hoax that never ends.

"I think it's enough because I think we should talk about the greatness of our country and the success that we're having,” Trump said Wednesday. “That's what I want to talk about, that’s what we should be talking about — not the Epstein hoax."

What’s next?

Khanna and Massie’s bipartisan bill — the Epstein Files Transparency Act — calls for the full, unredacted release of all of the Justice Department files on Epstein.

“No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary,” the bill states.

But its passage is by no means certain.

A discharge petition needs the support of 218 members of the House, or a majority of the chamber, for the bill to be brought to the floor for a vote.

If all 212 House Democrats were to vote to bring it to the floor, it would still need the support of six Republicans, including Massie. At least three GOP members are publicly backing it: Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

On Tuesday night, Mace was seen in tears leaving a private meeting with victims of Epstein. She later said that as a “recent survivor” she “had a very difficult time listening to their stories.”

If Khanna and Massie’s bill were to come to the floor, it would still need another majority of support in the House to be sent to the Senate, where it would require a majority to pass before it was sent to Trump — who has the power to veto it.

But at least one Epstein accuser said she isn’t waiting for Congress or the Trump administration to act.

“A lot of us survivors know we’ve been compiling lists of our own, and we have so many other survivors,” Lisa Phillips told NBC News. “Please come forward, and we’ll compile our own list and seek justice on our own.”