The Trump administration’s mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein files is erasing the work done by his victims to seek justice, according to four women who spoke to NBC News.
Danielle Bensky, who was abused by Epstein 20 years ago, told NBC, “You never really heal. And with what’s happening now, it feels like we’re being erased. All the brave women who came forward… all the work that we did to tell the world what happened to us, it’s all being erased.”
A civil war has been raging within Trump’s cabinet and in his MAGA base over the administration’s handling of the Epstein files, with top Democrats demanding explanations from Attorney General Pam Bondi and top supporters like Joe Rogan taking aim at FBI Director Kash Patel for failing to deliver on his promise to reveal the contents of the files.
Belief in conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein has been a common MAGA talking point for years, with many long believing that Epstein and other powerful men were part of a deep state sex trafficking cabal.
Outsiders have noted that President Donald Trump was a known associate of Epstein’s, a fact he was forced to confront yet again this week after a shocking exposé in The Wall Street Journal revealed details of the personalized gift Trump allegedly sent Epstein for his 50th birthday. Trump has since filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for libel and slander.
Four of Epstein’s victims who spoke to NBC explained that they feel their pain is being overlooked amidst all of the current chaos, and that the Trump administration should be seeking to expose powerful men like Epstein rather than preventing future prosecutions.
Bensky told NBC that her heart sank when Bondi released a memo stating there was no evidence of Epstein’s much-rumored client list and that the Department of Justice would not prosecute anyone else in the case.
“I felt a wave of sadness. All those years of trying to gain justice just negated,” Bensky said. ”It was just two pages saying they were done investigating with no details about what happened to all of us. It’s like we never existed.”
Another one of Epstein’s victims, Teresa J. Helm, told NBC, “When a person’s abuser[s] are repeatedly flashed in view at any given moment, and especially when promises of justice, and promises of structures of power finally being held to account—to then essentially have the door shut in your face and no longer open for business—then what?”
Alicia Arden, another reported Epstein victim, told NBC that while she supports Trump, she believes there’s a cover-up. “[Bondi] doesn’t want something to come out and I don’t understand why. Maybe the list is more horrifying than we think,“ she said.
A fourth victim, who spoke to NBC on the condition of anonymity as she fears retribution from the Trump administration, said, “I am not surprised Trump is now saying we should stop talking about Epstein. These people are trying to protect themselves.”
David Boies, the attorney who represented late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, said that the Trump administration only had itself to blame for the chaos that has unfolded since Bondi’s announcement.
“It’s coming up now because the administration made such a big deal that they were going to release a list of clients and, all of a sudden, they did a 180-turn saying, ‘We will not release anything,’” he said. “If they never said anything, there would have been only middling interest and conspiracy thinking. It’s the inconsistencies that fueled things.”
Boies told NBC, “I think they ought to release the material after promising. And if they don’t, people will believe they are hiding something and that cannot be tolerated.”
Bensky described recent events as “Groundhog Day for the Me Too movement” that threaten the progress all victims have made in seeing their abusers brought to justice.
She told NBC, “We need transparency and accountability for the sake of our daughters and future generations of young girls.”
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