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Peter Weber, The Week US
Guest
What happened
Dozens of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse joined a rally outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday to urge the Trump administration to release all of its files on Epstein and his convicted sex-trafficking associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. The rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who are seeking support from colleagues to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Who said what
Epstein survivors, some speaking publicly for the first time, "tearfully recounted stories of sexual abuse at the hands of Epstein" and the "other powerful men they were trafficked to," the Miami Herald said. They backed the Massie-Khanna bill and "revealed they are planning to build their own 'client list.'" Lisa Phillips said she and other survivors "will confidentially compile the names we all know were regularly in the Epstein world."
President Donald Trump, a former longtime friend of Epstein, dismissed the rally as a "Democrat hoax that never ends." It's "not a hoax," Massie said. "There are real victims to this criminal enterprise and the perpetrators are being protected because they are rich and powerful." Massie told The New York Times he thought "the administration did a 180 on this because they discovered not that Trump would be implicated, but some of their biggest donors and friends would be implicated and/or embarrassed."
What next?
Republican leaders are "hoping mightily that they have done enough to stop Massie and Khanna's momentum," the Times said. But after a lawyer for Epstein survivors said they were scared to share the client names, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) volunteered Wednesday. "If they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol on the House floor, and I'll say every damn name."
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