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Lisa Phillips spoke at a press conference for Epstein survivors Wednesday\u2014and said survivors have discussed creating their own list of their alleged abusers.<\/span>Bill Clark\/CQ Roll Call\/ZUMA<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s one issue<\/span> that is gaining rare bipartisan support in a very divided DC: Outrage over the continued stonewalling of the full release of the Epstein files. <\/p>\n On Wednesday, a group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers\u2014including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)\u2014held a press conference on Capitol Hill featuring survivors of the late financier and sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. The purpose: Push Republicans to help force a vote<\/a> on a House bill that Massie introduced<\/a> in July, dubbed the \u201cEpstein Files Transparency Act,\u201d that would force Attorney General Pam Bondi to publicly release, within 30 days, all of the unclassified materials related to their investigations into Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. This would include flight logs, names of people and entities with ties to Epstein, sealed settlements, and any internal Department of Justice (DOJ) communications about declining to charge or investigate his associates. The bill would also prohibit the withholding of any files based on \u201cembarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s DOJ has repeatedly purported<\/a> to release new batches of the files, including on Tuesday night, when the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released<\/a> more than 33,000 pages of documents that it secured through a subpoena from the DOJ. But Democrats and those present at the Wednesday press conference said those documents had already been made public through prior court cases.<\/p>\n At the news conference, Massie alleged the House Oversight Committee was \u201callowing the DOJ to curate all of the information that the DOJ is giving them\u201d and said that 97 percent of the documents released were \u201calready in the public domain.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a litmus test: Can we drain the swamp?\u201d he asked. \u201cAre there people who are outside of the reach of the law? I don\u2019t think there should be.\u201d <\/p>\n GOP Rep. Massie: I hope my Republican colleagues are watching. The Washington establishment is asking you to believe 2 people created hundreds of victims, and no one else was involved. They are allowing the DOJ to curate all the information. The pages are heavily redacted, and\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/W3r3MlS7B4<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 FactPost (@factpostnews) September 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mother Jones<\/em>. Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said<\/a> Wednesday that its investigation into Epstein was \u201cthe most comprehensive\u2026to date\u201d and that more documents will be forthcoming, including from Epstein\u2019s estate. <\/p>\n The survivors spoke at length and in detail about the abuse they suffered at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell, who was recently moved from a Florida prison to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas after a two-day interview<\/a> with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. For one survivor, Marina Lacerda, an immigrant from Brazil, Wednesday was the first time she spoke out publicly about her abuse, she said. Lacerda recounted entering Epstein\u2019s orbit while working three jobs to support her mother and sister as a high school student, and a friend offered her $300 to give a man, presumably Epstein, a massage. \u201cIt went from a dream job,\u201d she said, \u201cto the worst nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n Lacerda said she started getting called upon to go to Epstein\u2019s house so frequently that she dropped out of ninth grade and never returned. Her only way out, she said, came when Epstein told her she had gotten too old to work for him. <\/p>\n Lacerda said she struggles to remember some of the details of her abuse, which she believes the government documents could help her fill in. \u201c[The government] have documents with my name on them that were confiscated from Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s house and could help me put the pieces of my own life back together,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t have any of it, and I know the same is true for many of these women.\u201d<\/p>\n Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda: It’s so hard to heal knowing that there are people out there who know more about my abuse than I do. The government is still in possession right now of the documents with my name on them that were confiscated from Jeffrey Epstein’s house, and\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/f0pcqePARw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 FactPost (@factpostnews) September 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The survivors appealed to Republicans for their support in backing the bill that would require the full release of the files. Massie is trying to force a vote on his bill through a discharge petition, which compels the release of legislation from committee for a floor vote once 218 members sign on. With all 212 House Democrats reportedly signing onto the petition, plus four Republicans\u2014Massie, Greene, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)\u2014officials at the Wednesday press conference called for two more Republicans to join their colleagues to get it done. Meanwhile, a White House official told<\/a> NBC News they viewed voting for the petition as \u201ca very hostile act to the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe only motive for opposing this bill would be to conceal wrongdoing,\u201d said survivor Anouska\u00a0De Georgiou. \u201cYou have a choice: Stand with the truth or with the lies that protected predators for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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