Public speaker, trauma educator and Jeffrey Epstein survivor Jess Michaels was pressed Sunday on whether she was “ready to name names” after the Justice Department’s botched release of its files on Epstein, many of them redacted unlawfully.
While she delivered an ambiguous answer to the question, Michaels did let slip how her response may put the DOJ in a tight spot.
The DOJ released thousands of files on Epstein Friday in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandated by law that the agency release all of its files on Epstein by Dec. 19, and with the redactions only being permissible to protect the identities of victims or minors.
However, the DOJ withheld hundreds of thousands of files, and made several redactions outside of what the new law permitted.
Appearing on MS NOW’s “The Weekend” Sunday, Michaels was pressed on whether she and other survivors were ready to take matters into their own hands.
“Are you all ready to name names yourself?” asked MS NOW’s Eugene Daniels “Are you and the other survivors ready to name names yourselves?”
Michaels carefully chose her words in her response, but suggested that she and other Epstein survivors had a plan.
“We keep getting that comment – ‘name names’ – but what we’re seeing right now after an act of Congress is no justice,” Michaels said.
“The law said 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19, so if an act of Congress can’t get justice, what is the American public going to do without the backing of the Justice Department to get us accountability and keep us safe? Right now, what we know is what’s missing, and that’s an important point for us to keep to ourselves so that we can show negligence.”
Epstein survivors have said they have knowledge of particular files it assumes are in the DOJ’s possession, two of which have been described as the “most important” that weren’t included in the agency’s release Friday: a supposed 60-count criminal indictment related to Epstein and potential co-conspirators, and an 82-page DOJ memo of Epstein’s alleged crimes.
Withholding knowledge of specific Epstein files from the public, Michaels suggested, may put her and other survivors in a better spot to force compliance and hold the DOJ accountable.
MS NOW’s Jonathan Capehart pressed Michaels further, and asked at what point – if any – would she and other survivors be forced to go public with any and all information on Epstein and potential co-conspirators they possess.
“We need a safe place for us to be able to reveal information that we know we have that’s missing,” Michaels said. “Right now, we’re all speaking to our lawyers, giving them the lists of things that should be found. I think that’s something that maybe this DOJ doesn’t remember: we have attorneys, and those attorneys have all of the information.”
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