Epstein Victims Hold Press Conference, Urge Release of Justice Department Files

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 3, 2025 - A bipartisan coalition of U.S. House members joined survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for a solemn press conference on the Capitol lawn today, pressing Congress and the Justice Department to disclose all records from the federal investigation into the long-convicted sex traffickers.

Congressmen Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) spearheaded the event alongside Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), standing shoulder to shoulder with nearly a dozen victims who recounted harrowing accounts of abuse. The lawmakers are circulating a discharge petition aimed at compelling a House floor vote on legislation that would mandate the full release of Epstein-related documents, despite the White House’s insistence that calls for transparency are a “Democrat hoax”.

Among those speaking was Anouska De Georgiou, who shared her experience of surviving both Epstein and Maxwell’s abuse. “Accountability is what makes a society civilized,” she declared, urging Congress to choose “alignment with truth over the falsehoods that have shielded predators for years”. Marina Lacerda, identified in Epstein’s 2019 indictment as “Minor Victim 1,” publicly detailed being coerced into Epstein’s New York residence at age 14 and described her determination to piece her life back together with the help of documents bearing her name.

Legal counsel for the survivors called the moment “historic,” highlighting that although the House Oversight Committee released over 33,000 pages of documents last night, the vast majority were already publicly accessible and heavily redacted. “Less than one percent of the total files have been disclosed,” Rep. Khanna noted during the conference.

Survivors announced they are compiling their own confidential list of individuals they believe were complicit in the abuse, fearing retaliation if these names were made public without legal protections. “We will confidentially gather the names we all recognize,” survivor Lisa Phillips said, underscoring the group’s resolve to seek justice on their own terms.

The event drew more than 250 supporters, many holding signs reading “Release the Files” and chanting in solidarity. Victim Teresa Helm criticized Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a minimum-security prison camp as a “holiday camp,” calling it “repulsive” in light of Maxwell’s 20-year trafficking sentence.

Closing the conference, Rep. Massie urged the American public to contact Congress in support of the discharge petition. “Light up their phones, flood the lines here in Washington, D.C.,” he said, imploring citizens to demand transparency for the survivors.

With at least four Republicans already signed on, Massie and Khanna need roughly two more GOP voices alongside all House Democrats to trigger a discharge vote. The survivors’ testimonies today underscored the bipartisan nature of their plea: “This is not a blue thing or a red thing; this is an everyone thing,” survivor Courtney Wild declared.