LIVE Epstein survivors hold news conference ahead of Attorney General Pam Bondi hearing

Daughters, grandchildren, every single person, this is not an issue that's going away. And we're not going to stop. And I feel that this is a real, today and beyond, a real demonstration of integrity. And as my dad, who was a very, very smart man, used to say to me, Dr. James Helm, the proof is in the pudding, so we're going to find out. Thank you. First, I want to recognize Representative Nancy Mays standing with us today, because as we have always said, this is a nonpartisan issue. What I know, what we know in the sexual violence arena, is that there are more sexual abuse, sexual assault, and trafficking victims in the country, in the world, than any other tragedy. And consistently, those victims and survivors are told one of two things. Shut up, or move on. And as I understand it, when we spent time in Republican Judiciary Committee members' offices, they were very compassionate, passionate, caring about this issue. They support us, they want transparency, they want justice. And what we've heard is that they've been told to shut up today, and not do the hard thing of asking questions about the egregious job done by the Department of Justice in the drop of files. And we've heard that the American people have been told to move on. So I'd like to present three options to Republican House Judiciary Committee members. They can either do the bravest thing they have ever done, ever done in their career, and they can ask the hard questions. They can do a second thing, which is a really hard thing to do. Refuse to be complicit and resign. Just say, I am making a statement and I'm going to resign from being part of this administration. And they can do a third thing. They can yield one minute of their time to Thomas Massey, who happens to be a real bulldog in this issue, and let him speak for them. That way they are able to hold their position of leadership, but make a stand showing their constituents, who are all victims and survivors too, that they believe in us. So today my question is, those on the Judiciary Committee, the Republicans, are you going to have courage or are you going to be complicit? Thank you. Good morning. My name is Laura Bloom McGee. I am a survivor who stands before you to not ask you for pity, but demanding justice. Speaking my truth was born of courage. I stand here for every little boy and girl that is afraid to speak up after the unthinkable. That courage should never cost us our safety, our privacy, or our right to heal. Our current system does the opposite. The people who have harmed us, they are hidden, while survivors have been exposed. Abusers' names and contact information is redacted, while our faces and stories are left on full display. This is not protection. This is betrayal. It hands that power back to the abuser and furthers the survivors of our dignity. Even worse, leads that can uncover broader wrongdoing are being ignored, documents that point to co-conspirators are still unexamined. Truth, integrity, and the pursuit of justice should be non-negotiable, and we will no longer negotiate with people or institutions that fell us. Thank you. Hi, everyone. I'm Dani Bensky, and I am an Epstein-Maxwell survivor from 2004 to 2005. The last time I was in D.C., I asked everyone to close their eyes and think of a teenager that was close to you. I asked you to make it personal, thinking of your child, your sibling, your mother, or you, even at an early age. I asked you to visualize that teenager at the door of Jeffrey Epstein's mansion, and I asked you if you would let them enter. Well, now, I want you to visualize something else. I want you to think of that same 14- to 18-year-old. I want you to imagine that they've since grown up, and one day, you find their name and all of their identifying information in the Epstein files, alongside intimate, horrific details about their lives, sexual abuse, and trafficking. You look further, and maybe you even find a nude picture. You try to understand who could be responsible for these crimes, or try to find who's responsible for the crimes themselves, only to find that the perpetrators' names have all been redacted. As you read on and take in all of the heinous acts, you begin to see how the system repeatedly failed. Realizing that it was hard enough to endure the abuse, you begin to understand the endless re-traumatization. This time, it isn't a monster pedophile who is doing the exploiting, but our very own government. I dare to say that everyone knows a survivor, a survivor of assault or abuse. My ask is that you keep this personal. We are not here as political figures. We are only human. Our only agenda is accountability. We owe it to our former selves. We owe it to the next generation. And we also owe it to those of the past. We need to believe women who bravely stepped forward like Maria Farmer did in 1996. We need to pass Virginia's law to eliminate the statute of limitations. We need survivors to be taken seriously. There should never be a time limit on justice, and the DOJ needs to do its job. Give us the rest of the files and start the investigations. Start the investigations on the things that are in the files right now. During my time with Jeffrey, I was always amazed that he could make you feel so special, like you were the only one in the room, and then treat you like an absolute piece of trash and throw you away. We will not be silenced and thrown away this time. Thank you. Hello. My name is Liz Stein. I met Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in 1994 when I was a senior in college. For us, this is not about politics. This is about people in power and vulnerable girls and young women. A partial release of these files by the DOJ, riddled with improper redactions that expose the vulnerable and shield the powerful from accountability, is not justice. It is injustice. As victims of this crime and citizens of this country, we will not stand for it, and neither should you. This is no longer about us. This is about survivors of sexual abuse everywhere. They are watching us. And if you think that this does not affect you, one in four women in our country have been touched by this issue. It affects all of us. We are being watched, not only as survivors, but as advocates for those who cannot use their own voice to speak up. We as a nation have an opportunity to send a strong message that we will not protect people who victimize children, that we will stand up for what is right despite what our politics are, that we will cross the aisle, and that we will stand behind survivors for justice. We keep hearing our press secretary and our Department of Justice and other government officials saying they're moving on from this. I wish that we could. I met Epstein Maxwell when I was 21 years old. I'm nearly 53 now. We cannot move on as survivors of this crime and as citizens of this nation without changing this narrative. So I ask you all to stand behind us and demand accountability for our government, because we certainly are going to. Hello, everyone, and good morning. We are here today asking for basic safety, dignity, respect for survivors and Americans. In recent releases, survivors' names were not properly redacted. The failure has put people in danger. Personal information has been exposed, information that can lead to harassment, threats, and retaliation. Some of those impacted are those who have never broken their silence, who have never chose to be public, and who deserve protection, not exposure. We are still asking a question the public deserves answered. How is the Department of Justice able to carefully redact the names of powerful men yet fail to protect survivors? We stand here today united and strong, and we are asking for something simple. Treat us like human beings. We have families. We have lives. We did not cause these crimes, and we should not be the ones paying for the price again. And if more documents are released, we are demanding that the DOJ take the time to do this the right way, fully and respectfully redact survivors' identities and any identity details connected to them. We also need to address the allegations contained in these materials. Every credible allegation must be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly, no matter who the person is, how wealthy they are, or how connected they are. We understand that these are allegations and due process matters, but survivors are human beings who shared something horrific. They deserve to be heard, and they deserve a real investigation, not dismissal, delay, or silence. So everyone watching, stand with survivors, demand accountability, demand transparency, demand investigations that do not protect the powerful while exposing the vulnerable. And those who are involved, those who know what happened, those who enabled it, those who stayed silent, do the right thing. Answer the questions. Cooperate. Because the survivors are done carrying the burden alone. Moving forward, we, and when I say we, I mean the whole world, expect true transparency and justice for those who have not yet received it. I want to emphasize that after Congress reviewed the unredacted files yesterday and discovered that more powerful individuals were involved, I'm left wondering, why haven't we started an investigation of this yet? Other countries have taken action, so why is the United States lagging behind, especially in a nation that prides itself on justice? This is what we believe in. This is what we demand. So the real question here is, when will the Department of Justice start an investigation, not only their allegations, but to the powerful men that are running free? Thank you, everyone. Good morning, everybody. We are here today as survivors and as the families of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. We are here as the family of Virginia Roberts Dufresne. My name is Skye Roberts, and I am the brother of Virginia Roberts Dufresne. Pam, I have a clear and simple message for you. The way this administration and you specifically have handled survivors has been nothing short of a failure. I have a message from Annie Farmer. She's not here today, but I love her to death. Believe that. And she said, Pam, do your job. Do your job, Pam. And I feel that. There are serious questions that demand answers. Why are the perpetrators' names being redacted while survivors' names are left unredacted? We are done with excuses. We are done with delays. No more lies. No more deflection. We want answers, and we want accountability. Virginia was not a headline. She was a daughter, a sister, a mother, and a human being. She carried what was done to her for years and still chose to fight, not just for herself but for others who were afraid or silenced. And we need to say this plainly. The handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case has been mismanaged again and again across administrations, across agencies, and across years. That failure is not abstract. It has caused real, lasting damage to survivors, and that is not up for debate. We are here to see whether our representatives will stand with survivors, not with excuses, not with delay, not with political convenience. We are here to see whether you will ask the hard questions that have been avoided for far too long. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Amanda. To Ms. Bondi, we are deeply disappointed by the way you and your leadership in this department have treated survivors. And today, while you're being questioned, we ask you to look in the eyes of every single one of us and remember Virginia Roberts Shufray, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the trauma that she had endured. We ask you to remember the lives that we have lost during this process. Accountability means real answers, not evasion. It means transparency, not more hiding. And we ask Congress that if Pam Bondi has been found where you have misled or gave false testimony, you must be held to the same standard as everyone else. No title, no power, no connections should change that. And to the American people, take heed. Be mindful of any government or any powerful people who try to tell us that what we live through is not real, that what happened to us didn't happen, who ask us to doubt what our ears can hear and what our eyes can plainly see. That is how abuse is protected, and that is how it thrives. We are here because survivors have had their lives defined by what powerful people did to them behind closed doors, while institutions have continuously looked away. Today, Congress has a chance to prove that this country is still not looking away. We are not here for theater, and we are not here for talking points. We are here for truth, we are here for justice, we are here for accountability, for Virginia and every survivor. Hi, my name is Charlene Rochard, and last year I stood here as a survivor demanding the release of the Epstein files. Today, I stand here again as a citizen demanding accountability now that Congress is questioning Pam Bondi of the Department of Justice about the handling of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Let me be clear. Survivors are furious. We watched the Justice Department botch redactions so badly that victims' images were exposed while predators' identities were kept hidden and protected. That does not feel like an accident or a clerical error. It feels like betrayal. The people who were supposed to protect us instead shielded abusers and re-traumatized survivors, and we're expected to accept that as standard procedure? We do not. Pam Bondi claimed she was defending the independence and integrity of the Justice Department, but survivors have every right to ask, where was all that integrity when survivors were exposed? Where was that independence when victims were silenced? Where was all that commitment to justice when the truth was buried to protect reputations? These are not partisan attacks. These are demands for basic human morality and accountability. When officials are accused of weaponizing the Justice Department, we know exactly what that means because we've lived through the consequences. This inquiry confirms what survivors have known for decades. The Justice Department has been influenced and manipulated in ways that harmed us. We are told to wait for transparency, to trust a system that already failed us, to accept redactions that protect the powerful and expose the powerless. But our trauma wasn't delayed. Our pain was not postponed. And our trust has been shattered. So I will say what many survivors feel. Pam Bondi and the Justice Department failed us repeatedly across administrations, across political lines, across decades, and the people who had the authority to intervene chose silence, secrecy, and self-preservation and called it justice. I'm here to make sure no one in the Justice Department, no matter their title, rewrites history or escapes accountability. And so today, I'm asking survivors, allies, lawmakers, and citizens to refuse silence, demand oversight, demand transparency, demand a Justice Department that protects the vulnerable instead of the powerful. Stand with us. Speak with us. And do not look away. Accountability will not come unless we insist on it together. Thank you. One second. I just want to let members of the media know that because the judiciary hearing is starting soon, some of the survivors are going to go take their seat right now. But we are going to continue this press conference because we have a few more important statements to make. And Representative Press... All right. Thank you. Good morning. For thousands of years, women have been considered second-class citizens. Back to the book of Genesis, Chapter 24, when Dinah was raped by a prince. They tried to negotiate a deal to sweep it under the rug until her brothers took up swords. And today, the Epstein survivors who are here, advocating on their behalf, want America and the world to know they are no longer second-class citizens. And women in this country should never be treated like second-class citizens. And their stories are truth. Their stories are real. They are vulnerable. It is traumatic. And it is lifelong trauma for each and every one of them. I have lost all faith in the justice system today. But I have not lost faith in the stories of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. And I want the survivors to know that the world is watching. And we must show them what we're made of. We're made of the courage of the Epstein survivors. We're made of the bravery of the Epstein survivors. We're made of the truth of the Epstein survivors. And we're here today to demand justice for the Epstein survivors. Because their stories are our stories. There are judges all across the country, all across the United States of America, who are revealing the names and the identities and the residents, the addresses, the contact information of rape victims everywhere. Rape victims who come forward and name names are sued by their rapists. This is happening not just to them, but to women everywhere. In my case, I went to law enforcement over two years ago. Evidence on a silver platter. Today, not a single person arrested, not a single person in jail. And so the days of the cover-up are over, and I am begging the media, don't make this partisan. This is about the victims. And this will go down, the Epstein saga. And, Maxwell, this will go down as one of the greatest cover-ups in American history. And I'm going to stand with the Epstein survivors until my last breath to ensure that the rich and powerful do not get away with this. Because America's system is a two-tiered system of justice. There's one for the rich and powerful, and there's one for the rest of us. And those days are over, and I want the rich and powerful, the princes, the princesses, the prime ministers, the former presidents to know, your days are numbered. Thank you, and God bless each and every one of you. So I just want to just acknowledge that who were just before us are grown women. But it's not hard for me, when I look at them, to see a 17-year-old, a 16-year-old, a 15-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 9-year-old. We're talking about children who were grown, preyed upon, exploited, raped, trafficked, dreams permanently deferred, bodies violated, and spirits permanently bruised. In Virginia's book, Nobody's Girl, it's titled that because she felt she belonged to no one, that no one cared. These survivors have been used, abused, and discarded. Jeffrey Epstein can rot in hell, and Jelaine Maxwell can follow suit, and all of those co-conspirators and accomplices deserve to be named and shamed. Because as Virginia once said, if we don't know who they are, the monsters are still out there harming people. So I thank you for being here today. This is a season of call a thing a thing, so I have to be direct. Survivors gathered here today, I'm so grateful for their courage and leadership and equally devastated and furious about what they have endured. You were failed by so many powerful people that could have protected your childhood. You were failed by a government that ignored your cries for decades. Truly an institutional betrayal. We are fighting with every bone in our bodies for you. The files that have been released have further detailed a vivid picture of depraved behavior and dehumanization, violent violations, hurt and harm no person, no person, no child should ever endure. It is an abuse and harm that changes you on a cellular level for the rest of your life. It is a lifetime sentence. Together we are fighting for every survivor carrying visible and invisible scars, burdened by shame. Let me be clear, the shame is not yours to carry. Shame on the people that abused you. Shame on the government that failed you. So the shame is not yours to carry and we must meet your courage with real action. And again, although I know our survivors have left to take their seats at the judiciary hearing, I'm speaking to all the Epstein survivors, but to all survivors for whom the Epstein survivors are a current proxy for. This moment requires that we meet their courage with real action. These powerful abuses have been protected by institutions that are more concerned with the wealthy and well-connected than centering survivors. The Department of Justice must continue to release files and they must correct course as we've demanded from the beginning. The identities of survivors in these files must be redacted and protected. And this can't end with the release of the files. We must see thorough investigations, followed by swift accountability for all that enabled and incited this abuse. Words are important, but actions are what matter now. And that's why we will not yield. Thank you for being here today and our work continues. Good morning, everyone. I am Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury and I am so proud to represent New Mexico's 1st Congressional District and to stand with the survivors and to be joined by my colleagues from the Oversight Judiciary and other committees of jurisdiction in this case. While the survivors have left to attend the Pam Bondi hearing that starts in just a few moments, we will stay for a few extra moments to answer questions of the press. You see behind me members of the Oversight Committee that have been engaged in a month-long bipartisan investigation in the Epstein case. Let me begin by saying one thing. Believe the survivors. We are being asked every single day to name names. They have named the names. They are in the files. Believe the survivors. Believe your eyes. Believe what you are reading. They have named the names and for the last 20 years justice has not been served here in these United States. 20 years ago, in 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI drew up a 56-page indictment that included 32 counts of federal crimes against Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators and one year later dropped the case. In the years that ensued hundreds and potentially thousands of additional victims of sexual violence were allowed to happen because the United States government failed to act. Today that same injustice is continuing right now here in the halls of Congress, the halls of the Department of Justice and yes, in the halls of the White House. Late last night I posted an FBI file that names names. That is the FBI's file. Those are the names of rich and powerful people including presidents that the FBI itself was tracking in the Epstein investigation. That is based on victims naming names. So believe the victims. Believe your eyes. The names have been named. They are in the public domain. They are in the files and we will tell you unequivocally we will keep naming names. While we do, as members of Congress, have access to these unredacted files let us be clear, the law is clear that these files should never have been redacted the way that they are currently. It is very clear that the United States government is involved in an active cover-up and protecting the allies of the President and the Department of Justice and that active members of this administration have lied under oath to the American people and to this Congress and we will hold you accountable. Now it has already been stated multiple times this morning. The governments across the world are acting. Governments across the world are demanding accountability. People are rising up. Survivors are coming forward. People are naming names and names are being taken down. Yet here in the United States the injustice that has spanned now two decades is continuing because of an active cover-up by the President himself. So what we ask all of you the American people members of the press the eyes of the world who are watching us here in the United States believe the survivors have courage do the right thing because the survivors have already had the courage to say those names over and over again and they have more courage and guts than half of the people in the buildings behind us and most of the people in this town. But we want you to know that we will not let this injustice stand. We will stand here every day with the survivors. We will not stop. We will look through every file. We will follow every lead and justice will be served. And to every survivor out there here in the United States and across the world the millions of survivors girls, women, boys people who are watching we know the eyes of the world are on us. We stand with you. We are fighting for you. You are not alone. And whether you have come forward or not we want you to know that we are fighting for you. We see you and we will fight for justice. And so with that we will open it up for questions and some of us are going to head over to the judiciary committee where Pam Bondi has to answer some very serious questions. Do we have any questions from the press? Yes. It is very clear that Howard Lutnick lied to the American people about the nature of his relationship and that he repetitively lied including potentially perjuring himself yesterday right behind me in the United States Senate. We have the files. We know the nature of the relationship. We know that there are multiple witnesses who shared information with the FBI about Howard Lutnick's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. It is time for him to stand down. What message does it send about our country to our kids when people in Europe are being held accountable but people in the United States are not being held accountable for the same exact situation. So we have to hold people in this administration accountable no matter how powerful they are. And this is Suha Supermanian from Virginia. Well I am humbled that you would ask a mere citizen congresswoman from New Mexico to comment on what is happening with the royal family. But let me just say this generally. When you examine what the FBI and the United States investigated of Jeffrey Epstein for more than a decade it is very clear that his crimes included not just sex trafficking but international money laundering potential influence peddling of state secrets to foreign governments. We still don't understand the nature of his intelligence work. And it is not only a stain on the reputation of all world leaders that there are leaders that were in association with Epstein and his sexual crimes but it's also a national security risk. And I think that what has unfolded in the UK over the last couple of weeks is that Jeffrey Epstein was a national security risk to the UK and it's important that the individuals who may have either intentionally or inadvertently shared information be held accountable. I think in terms of King Charles the family's reputation is on the line right now. So I hope they do the right thing by letting authorities hold Andrew accountable for anything he did. I still want to continue to see if Andrew will come and testify before our committee. But certainly the victims have said that justice has many forms and one of them is the reputations and titles and power of many of these people who were involved in these crimes. So their reputation is on the line right now. It's hard for me to say. I think that's why we want all the documents to know exactly what evidence there is of any sort of knowledge of the crimes. I think especially when you have a peek behind the redactions and some of the email correspondence Jeffrey Epstein had a vast network of leaders, businessmen, others that he was involved with globally. It's not necessarily indicative that he was doing work for governments or that others in the government were involved but it's clear that his influence peddling and his business scheme involved maintaining those kinds of relationships. So I think at this point it's unclear that there's any evidence that points to broader participation outside of the individuals who have so far been named. Are there other questions? I think one of the things that we met extensively a number of members and survivors yesterday to talk about what comes next and I want to make clear that both the members of Congress who are supporting the survivors and the survivors see this not as just a moment of accountability in this case but about changing the culture and trajectory of violence against women and sexual violence here in the United States and around the world and it's very clear that our justice system is not a trauma-informed justice system. The way in which the justice system is not only covering up the case now but re-traumatizing and putting victims at risk is a part of the problem but there are many laws that need to be changed in addition to the bill that was introduced yesterday by Congresswoman Ledger Fernandez. There's a whole slate of legislation around violence and sexual violence around women dealing with state statutes around the statute of limitations on these issues and building a system that not only believes survivors but supports them and so part of our goal over the coming months is going to be to lift up survivor stories at more lengths so that they can tell their stories so that young women especially and vulnerable people know what it looks like so they can help protect themselves and so that we can change the laws to protect survivors in a better way. Would it be okay if we can talk to you a little bit more offline about your case? I'll just say this. No, it's a political system. It's not an operating system and we do need to reform the system. We'll take one more question and then we're going to go ahead and head over to judiciary. I have a lot of questions about where the two and a half million files that they're withholding are and whether they plan to release them and whether they plan to follow the law. That's the reality because right now they're not following the law. They're not following our subpoena from our committee and so we're going to continue to ask questions like that. Thank you. Personally, the only thing I want to hear from Pam Bondi is I resign but we know that's not going to happen today. She needs to answer for not only her complete debacle of rolling out these files but her lack of compliance with the law and the ways in which she has systemically failed the survivors. Thank you all so much. Thanks for joining us.