Survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein have a direct message for Congress ¡ª particularly for Republicans who spent years calling for more information about the sexual predator¡¯s circle of well-connected friends and who have somehow now lost interest.
Their message, both about their own abuse and a seeming cover-up? ¡°You have a choice. Stand with the truth. Or with the lies that have protected predators for decades,¡± said Anouska de Georgiou, an Epstein survivor, at a two-hour news conference in Washington last week.
¡°President Trump, you have so much influence and power in this situation,¡± de Georgiou continued. ¡°Please use that influence and power to help us. Because we need it now and this country needs it now.¡± She was one of several Epstein survivors calling on the Department of Justice to release all of its files on Epstein. (Also last week, the House Oversight Committee released 33,000 pages of documents related to the Epstein case that the Department of Justice provided, the bulk of which had already been released.)
Epstein, a billionaire financier, pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of abusing underage girls in Florida and was charged in July 2019 with sex trafficking of minors, some as young as 14. He committed suicide in jail a month after he was arrested. His connections with high-profile figures like Prince Andrew and Donald Trump have helped keep his name in the news ¡ª and conspiracy theories around him swirling.
The women spoke of Epstein bragging about famous friends, including Trump, yet were careful to say that this was not a red or blue issue. Trump, who has tried mightily to make the Epstein story go away, did again what he has already done: Suggested that the whole thing was a ¡°Democrat hoax that never ends.¡±
Yet in coming to Washington, the survivors are directly challenging Trump, complicating his efforts to dismiss their abuse as simply another political game meant to undermine him. Marina Lacerda, speaking out for the first time, said she was just 14 when someone offered her $300 to massage an old rich guy. The abuse went on until she was 17.
It wasn¡¯t a hoax.
¡°It¡¯s so hard to begin to heal knowing that there are people out there who know more about my abuse than I do,¡± said Lacerda, who said speaking out was therapy for her. ¡°The worst part is that the government is still in possession right now of the documents and information that could help me remember and get over all of this maybe and help me heal.¡±
Chauntae Davies said she was a young actress living in California in 2002 when someone connected her...
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