WASHINGTON — A group of Jeffrey Epstein accusers on Wednesday told emotional, gut-wrenching stories of sexual abuse at the hands of the late convicted sex offender and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, raising pressure on lawmakers to back the release of all of the files in the Justice Department’s years-long Epstein investigation.
One of the accusers, Marina Lacerda, identified herself as “Minor Victim 1” in the federal indictment of Jeffrey Epstein in New York in 2019. “I was one of dozens of girls that I personally know who were forced into Jeffrey’s mansion on 9 East 71st St. in New York City when we were just kids,” she said. “Today is the first time that I ever speak publicly about what happened to me.”
“I was only 14 years old when I met Jeffrey,” said Lacerda, one of several female Epstein accusers who appeared at a news conference on Capitol Hill.
“It was the summer of high school. I was working three jobs to try to support my mom and my sister when a friend of mine in the neighborhood told me that I could make $300 to give another guy a massage,” she said, choking up at times. “It went from a dream job to the worst nightmare.”
Another Epstein accuser, Annie Farmer, alleged she was 16 when, in 1996, she was flown to New Mexico to spend a weekend with Epstein and Maxwell and was assaulted. Her sister, Maria, was also assaulted there, Farmer said, and sensitive photos of the sisters were stolen by Epstein. The incident was reported to authorities, Farmer said.
“I am now 46 years old; 30 years later, we still do not know why that report wasn’t properly investigated, or why Epstein and his associates were allowed to harm hundreds, if not thousands, of other girls and young women,” Farmer said.
“Not only did many others participate in the abuse, it is clear that many were aware of his interest in girls and very young women and chose to look the other way because it benefited them to do so,” Farmer continued. “They wanted access to his circle and his money. Their choice to align with his power left those of us who had been harmed by this man and his associates feeling very isolated.”
The bombshell news conference was organized by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and comes as the bipartisan duo push to collect 218 signatures — half of the members of the House of Representatives — to force a vote to compel the Justice Department to release all of the files in the Epstein case.
The accusers at the conference said that if Congress isn’t willing to release all of the investigative documents pertaining to Epstein, they would compile their own list of names to hold those in Epstein’s orbit accountable. “Together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know, who were regularly in the Epstein world,” said Lisa Phillips, who said she was brought to Epstein’s island.
“We are the keys,” added Haley Robson, who alleges she was trafficked by Epstein starting when she was 16. “We know the games. We know the players.”
As of Wednesday morning, 134 lawmakers had signed onto the Massie-Khanna discharge petition — 130 Democrats and four Republicans: Massie and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina. Both authors of the measure have expressed confidence they can reach their 218 goal; they will need just two more Republicans to sign the petition to force a vote, if all Democrats join the effort, which they are expected to do.
But the Trump White House and Republican congressional leaders are opposed to the release of all of the files, saying that doing so could inadvertently expose the identities of victims who don’t want to go public. The White House framed voting for the discharge petition as a “hostile act” toward the Trump administration.
“Helping Thomas Massie and Liberal Democrats with their attention-seeking, while the DOJ is fully supporting a more comprehensive file release effort from the Oversight Committee, would be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration,” a White House official said.
Both White House officials and GOP leaders are working behind the scenes to try to stave off an internal revolt from rank-and-file Republicans on the Epstein matter. One far-right rabble rouser, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said a White House official called him to see how he would vote on the Epstein resolution; he replied that he wouldn’t sign the petition, but would support it if Massie and Khanna collect 218 signatures and bring it to the floor.
“When they get 218, I’ll vote for it,” Norman told NBC News, but he added he wouldn’t be part of the discharge effort. “What I don’t like about it is it’s just a ‘hate Trump’ bill. The discharge petition is nothing more than a ‘hate Trump’ bill.”
Earlier Wednesday, women accusing Epstein and Maxwell of sex trafficking rallied on Capitol Hill, calling for the government to release of all files related to the Epstein investigation, make a commitment “to the truth” without political bias and a promise by Trump not to pardon Maxwell.
Supporters held up signs that read “Trust the victims, not the felon,” in reference to Maxwell and “Stand Up for Survivors.”
Asked about a pardon for Maxwell last month, Trump said he hadn’t considered it but defended his right to grant them.
Sky Roberts, the brother of prominent Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in April spoke on her behalf. “The justice system was not designed to serve the powerful, it was meant to protect the people — and it’s time it started doing just that,” he said.
Theresa Helm, who alleges Maxwell groomed her and she was sexually abused by Epstein in 2002 when she was 22, said Maxwell belongs in prison.
“Ghislaine Maxwell, you are the system, and now you are part of another system, one that you’ve earned through your very own choices and actions — a prison system where you deserve to live in your 20-year sentence,” Helm told the crowd.
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