(NEW YORK) — A group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors are set to speak at the Capitol on Wednesday morning.
The 10:30 a.m. ET news conference comes as a bipartisan pair of lawmakers push to force a vote on the House floor on releasing the Epstein files.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie defended the effort he and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna’s are making, emphasizing late Tuesday that all eyes will be on hearing the survivors of Epstein’s sexual abuse and alleged trafficking speak out.
“I think what’s going to change everything is tomorrow at 10:30, when we have the survivors testifying in public, some of whom have never spoken publicly, and they’ve already met with the Oversight Committee, and it was allegedly a very emotional meeting, and that’s all behind closed doors. But it’s going to be open to the public tomorrow,” he said Tuesday.
Ahead of the meeting with lawmakers, several of the survivors and their families held a rally outside the Capitol.
“It the voices of survivors of these crimes that are important, so we are here together to stand united,” said survivor Liz Stein.
On Tuesday night, Massie accused the White House of not wanting to release the files.
“Look, if my legislation were redundant, why would the White House be trying to stop it? It’s not redundant. There are things that the White House doesn’t want out there that my legislation would cause to be released.”
Asked to respond to President Donald Trump calling the Epstein investigation “a hoax,” Massie said, “I hope he doesn’t say that after tomorrow when 10 of the survivors testify, that would be very disrespectful.”
So far, four Republicans have signed the discharge petition — a procedural tool to bypass GOP leadership and force a vote on a measure to compel the Justice Department to publicly release the Epstein files. Those signers include Massie, Reps. Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. If all 212 Democrats sign the petition, only two Republicans are needed to reach the 218 needed force a vote on the House floor.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, after an hourslong meeting with Epstein survivors on Tuesday, said Republicans were committed to transparency on Epstein, but reiterated his opposition to Massie and Khanna’s petition.
“It does not adequately protect the innocent victims, and that is a critical component,” Johnson said.
Massie also weighed in on the Epstein document release on Tuesday from the House Oversight Committee, which included tens of thousands of pages, saying he still plans to move forward with his discharge petition.
“I haven’t had time to look at all the documents that have been released by the Oversight Committee, but I think the scope of their investigation is such that the things they requested aren’t even going to include all the things that we need, and the few documents that we have been able to view are heavily redacted to the degree that they wouldn’t show us anything new,” he said.
Massie added, “Somebody needs to show us what’s new in those documents, to know whether it’s moot or not.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the pages released by the panel on Tuesday were “already mostly public information.”
“To the American people — don’t let this fool you,” Garcia said. “After careful review, Oversight Democrats have found that 97% of the documents received from the Department of Justice were already public. There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims.”
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and child sex trafficking. He died in custody a month later, while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
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