Survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein made their voices heard on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as the pressure to release the files reached a fever pitch.
Epstein’s accusers and families of more victims gathered with members of Congress as they called for a vote in the House to release all the files.
During the emotional event, President Donald Trump’s name was invoked multiple times as the White House has pressed back on releasing the files.
While pushing for the files to be made public, Chauntae Davies spoke about how she feared no one would believe her because Epstein had so many pictures of powerful friends.
“Epstein had a free pass. He bragged about his powerful friends, including our current president, Donald Trump,” Davies said when it was her turn to speak. “It was his biggest brag, actually.”
When asked to elaborate on the comment, Davies recalled how her first trip to the late financier’s Palm Beach, Florida, residence was with Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. She told how the pair were very vocal about their famous and powerful friendships.
“His biggest brag forever was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump,” Davies said. “He had an eight-by-ten framed picture of him on his desk with the two of them.”
The press conference with survivors was put together to push the bipartisan effort by Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie for a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act to release the Epstein files.
On Monday, Massie filed the discharge petition to force a vote. They need 218 lawmakers to sign on to force the vote. Every Democrat is expected to sign on, which means they need six Republicans.
Four, including Massie and three GOP Women, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace, and Lauren Boebert, have signed on so far, so lawmakers are still pushing for two more GOP members.
However, the White House has pushed back on the legislation, as the Justice Department has slow-walked the disclosure of information after botching the release of files and claiming there would be no further information released.
During the emotional event on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, victims recounted the horrors they endured and made a direct appeal to lawmakers and the Trump administration.
As Davies spoke, the military conducted a flyover above the crowd, causing her to pause briefly as she spoke. She was not the only person to mention the president.
Another victim made a direct appeal to the president, who once supported the release of files before dramatically reversing course and calling it a “hoax.”
“President Trump, you have so much influence and power in this situation,” said Anouska De Georgiou. “Please use that influence and power to help us because we need it now, and this country needs it now.”
Jena-Lisa Jones also addressed the president directly.
“Please, President Trump, pass this bill and help us. Make us feel like our voices are finally being heard,” she said.
Republican House leadership has rejected holding a vote to release the Epstein files. As pressure intensified on Monday, they introduced their own measure to direct the House Oversight Committee to continue its investigation.
Massie slammed the resolution for not doing anything.
“That’s the oldest trick in the swamp,” he said. “When you want to kill the momentum, when you want to kill initiative, you introduce a placebo. a different bill that does nothing, and then tries to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people. That’s not going to happen this time.”
Some GOP lawmakers have claimed that they are not signing the discharge petition because survivors do not want them to. All of the Epstein victims in attendance immediately disputed that. Some of them were chanting, “Pass the bill,” which would redact personal details.
Some of Epstein’s survivors have been represented by attorney Brad Edwards. He was asked about the White House’s attacks on the effort to force a vote and attempts to dissuade lawmakers from signing the petition.
Edwards noted how Trump has changed his tune since they spoke in 2009 and several times since then.
“He didn’t think it was a hoax then,” Edwards said. “In fact, he helped me; he got on the phone. He told me things that were helping our investigation.”
The lawyer specified that his investigation was not about Trump, but he was helping at the time.
“He didn’t treat this as a hoax. So at this point in time, I would hope that he would revert back to what he was saying to get elected, which is, ‘I want transparency.’ This about-face that occurred, none of us understands it.”
On Wednesday, when asked about the pressure to release the files and the effort on Capitol Hill, the president again pushed back.
“This is a Democrat hoax that never ends,” Trump said.
The bipartisan group of lawmakers and the survivors appearing on the hill on Wednesday argued it was not about politics but so much bigger.
Ahead of the press conference with lawmakers, a separate, deeply emotional rally with victims and their supporters also took place.
Attendees on the Hill carried signs that read “stand with survivors” as multiple women and the family members of Virginia Giuffre spoke through their tears.
Survivor Haley Robson, who spoke at both gatherings that were held moments apart and supports the discharge petition, slammed the government for shielding the rich and powerful.
“Shame on you. Shame on you for using our trauma to weaponize this moment,” she said. “We have the truth, and the FBI knows the truth. The government knows the truth.”
She said they’ve been waiting 20 years for the truth to come out and warned those politicians working against them, “Your time is up.”
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