Epstein accusers shared their stories on Capitol Hill, calling for justice : NPR

Mary Louise Kelly, host:

We are starting this hour here in Washington, where today more than a dozen survivors of sexual offenders condemned Jeffrey Epstein spoke during a rally on Capitol Hill. For hours, the survivors, including Marina Lacerda, identified in Epstein’s indictment in 2019 as a minor-Victime 1, shared their stories.

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Marina Lacerda: They have documents with my name which were confiscated from Jeffrey Epstein’s house and could help me put the pieces of my own life.

Kelly: The rally was part of a bipartite effort to go around the leaders of the Chamber to force the government to publish the files. The Grisal Claudia Congress correspondent, follows this. Hey, Claudia.

Grisal Claudia, Byline: Hey, Mary Louise.

Kelly: So just remarkable. This is the first time that the public has heard from some of these survivors. And as we have noted, it lasted hours.

Grisal: right.

Kelly: What has stood out?

Grisal: Okay, it was, as you said, very remarkable and unprecedented. Hundreds gathered with panels to support the survivors and put pressure for transparency. And also, it was a reminder that these survivors want to be humanized and they want the closure after decades of suffering. I spoke to the family of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a high -level survivor who died by suicide earlier this year. Here is his sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts.

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Amanda Roberts: She fought for that on the last day she was here. And so we just feel this traction to collect this torch, to collect this coat to assure us that his voice remains alive.

Grisal: So many of these survivors – they always need answers that are in these files, like Marina Lacerda, which we heard at the top, which spoke publicly for the very first time. She says that to heal, she must access her memories in these files and that the worst is that the government has information that it does not do.

Kelly: on the right, and part of the problem was that his personal experience and some of these other women are at the center of a political fight and that all the allegations that President Trump is trying to hide – the extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein – and it is therefore to release the documents. How did these survivors react to all this?

Grisal: Well, they say that the Republicans hold the key so that it does not happen again by publishing the files. They argue that many have not yet been held to account. But Trump told journalists in the White House today that it was just a political blow.

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President Donald Trump: He is really a democrat hoax because they try to bring people to talk about something that is completely out of words.

Grisal: and it is also salt in the wound. Many survivors have been visibly distraught today by Trump’s repeated references to this as a democratic hoax.

Kelly: Well, to recall, all of this has become a hot political problem because Trump and the Republicans promised to publish the files on the campaign track. Where are the Republicans now on the exit?

Grisal: Well, the leaders support an investigation by the Chamber’s supervisory committee on the case, but the survivors and the legislators who signed this petition to force the publication of these files say that this does not. We therefore see this new party burst as a small group of Republicans, although strong, the member of the Congress of Kentucky Thomas Massie to force a vote on the release of this record. For example, Marjorie Taylor Greene de Georgie and Nancy Mace de Caroline southern are also on board with the Democrats, but they still need two other Republicans to sign this so -called discharge petition to cancel leadership and bring this bill to the Chamber’s ground.

Kelly: And just briefly, Claudia, what is the next step in all this controversy?

Grisal: Well, the survivors said today that they were going to compile their own list of participants in this sex trafficking network if Congress and President Trump do not act. And the supervisory committee will also continue their work. They have published dozens of quotes to appear, so that more files should be published, and they are looking for more interviews with witnesses.

Kelly: Grisal CLAUDIA NPR, thank you.

Grisal: Thank you.

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