LIVE Democrats and Epstein survivors speak ahead of Pam Bondi hearing
Feb 11, 2026 #Pambondi #Politicians
Thank you all so much for being here, especially to the incredibly brave survivors who have
time and time again stood up to demand accountability.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your courage, for your tenacity, and for
your determination to get us the truth.
I also want to thank Lauren and everyone at World Without Exploitation who are working
so tirelessly to create change and end human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
And I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who are here with us today,
Nancy Mace, Sydney Komlager-Dove, Becca Ballant, Grace Meng, Melanie Stansbury, Adelita Grijalva
who got us to 218 on the discharge petition, and all the others that I know are in spirit
with us here.
I'm so proud to be on the Executive Board of the Democratic Women's Caucus, which is
hosting this press conference today and has been at the center of the push for justice.
Our amazing chairwoman, Teresa Ledger Fernandez, is at a Rules Committee meeting, so she's
unable to be with us in person, but she is certainly here in spirit.
Yesterday, I spent several hours at the Department of Justice looking through the unredacted
files and reading the absolutely horrific and depraved messages that went back and forth
between rich and powerful people in every sphere of influence.
These people are at the top of governments, academic institutions, billionaires at giant
corporations, cabinet secretaries, and the callous depravity of their messages showed
that they absolutely believed that they were above the law, above morals, absolutely immune
to any societal norms.
They joked in these emails about pedophiles, about horrific sexual acts with young girls,
about creating spaces, entire islands even, where they could do anything they wanted and
get away with it because of their wealth, their power, and their connections.
This was a massive global sex trafficking ring, with thousands of victims that we know
of and thousands more that we probably don't.
So when DOJ says that there is nothing to investigate, we, the American people, must
rise up.
We must allow the courage and the determination of the survivors who have spoken out at great
risk to themselves to push us to never give up until every single one of these predators
and pedophiles and predator protectors is brought to justice.
It is the voices of the survivors ringing through in the darkness of all of this horror
that has gotten us this far, and in speaking to so many of them myself, I know that this
effort is not just for them.
They're not doing this just for them.
They're doing it for their girls, for their children, for other people who have been affected
to all the survivors of sexual assault everywhere across the world who are watching to see if
we can get accountability right here in the United States of America.
Many rich and powerful people thought over the decades that they got away with this.
They definitely did.
You can see it in the emails.
But as Lauren said to me the other day, the earth is shaking because every single one
of them now is becoming known.
And around the world, princes, ambassadors, even prime ministers are being brought down
for their participation in this global sex trafficking ring.
And here in America, that needs to happen too.
And until it does, we are here to say we will not stop.
To every survivor who has fought so hard, who has shared painful details, who has been
re-traumatized by the continued disrespect, dismissal, and exposure of their own personal
details, we won't stop until you have justice and accountability.
I'm going straight from here to the Judiciary Committee as our representative Kamlogar Dove,
Representative Ballant, where we will have Attorney General Bondi before us.
I intend to get real answers on why the DOJ is not pursuing further action and to get
survivors the attention and the answers that they deserve.
This is just the beginning of our journey for justice, led by very powerful women who
are using their voices and their power to, yes, shake the earth of its depravity and
to demand accountability.
So thank you for all of it, for inspiring us day after day, year after year, and never
backing down.
We love you.
We appreciate you.
And we've got you.
It's now my honor to pass it over to Representative Sidney Kamlogar Dove, my colleague on the
Judiciary Committee.
Thank you.
Thank you, Congresswoman Jayapal.
I also want to recognize Congressman James Watkinshaw and Congressman Jamie Raskin, who
have also joined us for this press conference.
My name is Congresswoman Sidney Kamlogar Dove.
I represent Los Angeles.
And I want to thank the Democratic Women's Caucus for hosting this press conference and
for always centering survivors when talking about the Epstein files.
You know, the entire weight of Donald Trump's government is being used against the survivors
of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators' abuse.
The fact that these survivors have not only come forward, but continue to speak out and
relive the worst day of their lives every single day is courage.
And it's a kind of courage this administration does not have.
Eighty percent of sexual assaults go unreported because time and time again, our broken justice
system protects abusers instead of survivors.
When the President and the Attorney General repeatedly shield pedophiles, rapists, traffickers
from accountability, they send a chilling message to survivors everywhere and discourage
others from coming forward.
Let me be clear.
We need this administration to care about child sexual assault instead of protecting
pedophiles and predators.
At 10 a.m., Attorney General Pam Bondi will be testifying in House Judiciary Committee.
And we are all going to get in her face and grill her about the reckless and sloppy release
of these files.
One survivor found her name, her birthday, her address, and phone number and workplace
all exposed in the files.
That puts her at serious risk, and it is a chilling effect for every other survivor.
Now it is my honor and privilege to turn it over to a brave and courageous woman, Teresa
Helm.
Hi, good morning.
Here we are again.
And for what it's worth, we're not going anywhere.
And while it might seem that we're in the middle of the road of this, actually, in many
ways, this is just beginning.
I stand here in support for all of these women here beside me, all of the women across this
nation, for my own children, for myself, for every one of you out there in this audience
looking at us right now that's a survivor, this nation is full of survivors.
We're going to stand and we're going to fight, and we're not going to stop because that's
the right thing to do.
We stand here also with the support, and we pray that there's nonpartisan support of Virginia's
law that has just been introduced.
This is one of the most important monumental steps for survivors, and the world is still
watching.
No one's turning away from this.
It affects every single person here.
It affects every single person in this administration.
They have wives, daughters, grandchildren, every single person.
This is not an issue that's going away, and we're not going to stop.
And I feel that this is a real, today and beyond, a real demonstration of integrity.
And as my dad, who was a very, very smart man, used to say to me, Dr. James Helm, the
proof is in the pudding, so we're going to find out.
Thank you.
First, I want to recognize Representative Nancy May standing with us today because as
we have always said, this is a nonpartisan issue.
What I know, what we know in the sexual violence arena is that there are more sexual abuse,
sexual assault, and trafficking victims in the country, in the world, than any other
tragedy.
And consistently, those victims and survivors are told one of two things, shut up or move
on.
And as I understand it, when we spent time in Republican Judiciary Committee members'
offices, they were very compassionate, passionate, caring about this issue.
They support us.
They want transparency.
They want justice.
And what we've heard is that they've been told to shut up today and not do the hard
thing of asking questions about the egregious job done by the Department of Justice and
the drop of files.
And we've heard that the American people have been told to move on.
So I'd like to present three options to Republican House Judiciary Committee members.
They can either do the bravest thing they have ever done, ever done in their career,
and they can ask the hard questions.
They can do a second thing, which is a really hard thing to do, refuse to be complicit and
resign.
Just say, I am making a statement and I'm going to resign from being part of this administration.
And they can do a third thing.
They can yield one minute of their time to Thomas Massey, who happens to be a real bulldog
in this issue, and let him speak for them.
That way they are able to hold their position of leadership, but make a stand showing their
constituents, who are all victims and survivors too, that they believe in us.
So today my question is, those on the Judiciary Committee, the Republicans, are you going
to have courage or are you going to be complicit?
Thank you.
Good morning.
My name is Laura Bloom McGee.
I am a survivor who stands before you to not ask you for pity, but demanding justice.
Speaking my truth was born of courage.
I stand here for every little boy and girl that is afraid to speak up after the unthinkable.
That courage should never cost us our safety, our privacy, or our right to heal.
Our current system does the opposite.
The people who have harmed us, they are hidden, while survivors have been exposed.
Abusers' names and contact information is redacted, while our faces and stories are
left on full display.
This is not protection.
This is betrayal.
It hands power back to the abuser and further strips survivors of our dignity.
Even worse, leads that can uncover broader wrongdoing are being ignored.
Documents that point to co-conspirators are still unexamined.
Truth, integrity, and the pursuit of justice should be non-negotiable, and we will no longer
negotiate with people or institutions that fell us.
Thank you.
Hi, everyone.
I'm Dani Bensky, and I am an Epstein-Maxwell survivor from 2004 to 2005.
The last time I was in D.C., I asked everyone to close their eyes and think of a teenager
that was close to you.
I asked you to make it personal, thinking of your child, your sibling, your mother,
or you, even at an early age.
I asked you to visualize that teenager at the door of Jeffrey Epstein's mansion, and
I asked you if you would let them enter.
Well, now, I want you to visualize something else.
I want you to think of that same 14 to 18-year-old.
I want you to imagine that they've since grown up, and one day, you find their name
and all of their identifying information in the Epstein files, alongside intimate, horrific
details about their lives, sexual abuse, and trafficking.
You look further, and maybe you even find a nude picture.
You try to understand who could be responsible for these crimes, or try to find who's responsible
for the crimes themselves, only to find that the perpetrators' names have all been redacted.
As you read on and take in all of the heinous acts, you begin to see how the system repeatedly
failed, realizing that it was hard enough to endure the abuse.
You begin to understand the endless retraumatization.
This time, it isn't a monster pedophile who is doing the exploiting, but our very
own government.
I dare to say that everyone knows a survivor, a survivor of assault or abuse.
My ask is that you keep this personal.
We are not here as political figures.
We are only human.
Our only agenda is accountability.
We owe it to our former selves.
We owe it to the next generation.
And we also owe it to those of the past.
We need to believe women who bravely stepped forward like Maria Farmer did in 1996.
We need to pass Virginia's law to eliminate the statute of limitations.
We need survivors to be taken seriously.
There should never be a time limit on justice.
And the DOJ needs to do its job.
Give us the rest of the files and start the investigations.
Start the investigations on the things that are in the files right now.
During my time with Jeffrey, I was always amazed that he could make you feel so special
like you were the only one in the room and then treat you like an absolute piece of trash
and throw you away.
We will not be silenced and thrown away this time.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Liz Stein.
I met Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in 1994 when I was a senior in college.
For us, this is not about politics.
This is about people in power and vulnerable girls and young women.
A partial release of these files by the DOJ riddled with improper redactions that expose
the vulnerable and shield the powerful from accountability is not justice.
It is injustice.
As victims of this crime and citizens of this country, we will not stand for it and
neither should you.
This is no longer about us.
This is about survivors of sexual abuse everywhere.
They are watching us.
If you think that this does not affect you, one in four women in our country have been
touched by this issue.
It affects all of us.
We are being watched not only as survivors but as advocates for those who cannot use
their own voice to speak up.
We as a nation have an opportunity to send a strong message that we will not protect
people who victimize children, that we will stand up for what is right despite what our
politics are, that we will cross the aisle and that we will stand behind survivors for
justice.
We keep hearing our press secretary and our Department of Justice and other government
officials saying they're moving on from this.
I wish that we could.
I met Epstein Maxwell when I was 21 years old.
I'm nearly 53 now.
We cannot move on as survivors of this crime and as citizens of this nation without changing
this narrative.
So I ask you all to stand behind us and demand accountability for our government because
we certainly are going to.
Hello everyone and good morning.
We are here today asking for basic safety, dignity, respect for survivors and Americans.
In recent releases, survivors' names were not properly redacted.
The failure has put people in danger.
Personal information has been exposed, information that can lead to harassment, threats, and
retaliation.
Some of those impacted are those who have never broken their silence, who have never
chose to be public, and who deserve protection, not exposure.
We are still asking a question the public deserves answered.
How is the Department of Justice able to carefully redact the names of powerful men yet
failed to protect survivors?
We stand here today united and strong and we are asking for something simple.
Treat us like human beings.
We have families.
We have lives.
We did not cause these crimes and we should not be the ones paying for the price again.
And if more documents are released, we are demanding that the DOJ take the time to do
this the right way.
Fully and respectfully redact survivors' identities and any identity details connected
to them.
We also need to address the allegations contained in these materials.
Every credible allegation must be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly, no matter who
the person is, how wealthy they are, or how connected they are.
We understand that these are allegations and due process matters, but survivors are human
beings who shared something horrific.
They deserve to be heard.
And they deserve a real investigation, not dismissal, delay, or silence.
So everyone watching, stand with survivors, demand accountability, demand transparency,
demand investigations that do not protect the powerful while exposing the vulnerable.
And those who are involved, those who know what happened, those who enabled it, those
who stayed silent, do the right thing.
Answer the questions.
Cooperate.
Because the survivors are done carrying the burden alone.
Moving forward, we, and when I say we, I mean the whole world, expect true transparency
and justice for those who have not yet received it.
I want to emphasize that after Congress reviewed the unredacted files yesterday and discovered
that more powerful individuals were involved, I'm left wondering, why haven't we started
an investigation this yet?
Other countries have taken action.
So why is the United States lagging behind, especially in a nation that prides itself
on justice?
This is what we believe in.
This is what we demand.
So the real question here is, when will the Department of Justice start investigation,
not only the allegations, but to the powerful men that are running free?
Thank you, everyone.
Good morning, everybody.
We are here today as survivors and as the families of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and
Ghislaine Maxwell.
We are here as the family of Virginia Roberts Dufresne.
My name is Skye Roberts, and I am the brother of Virginia Roberts Dufresne.
Pam, I have a clear and simple message for you.
The way this administration and you specifically have handled survivors has been nothing short
of a failure.
I have a message from Annie Farmer.
She's not here today, but I love her to death.
Believe that.
And she said, Pam, do your job.
Do your job, Pam.
And I feel that.
There are serious questions that demand answers.
Why are the perpetrators' names being redacted while survivors' names are left unredacted?
We are done with excuses.
We are done with delays.
No more lies.
No more deflection.
We want answers, and we want accountability.
Virginia was not a headline.
She was a daughter, a sister, a mother, and a human being.
She carried what was done to her for years and still chose to fight, not just for herself,
but for others who were afraid or silenced.
And we need to say this plainly.
The handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case has been mismanaged again and again across
administrations, across agencies, and across years.
That failure is not abstract.
It has caused real, lasting damage to survivors, and that is not up for debate.
We are here to see whether our representatives will stand with survivors, not with excuses,
not with delay, not with political convenience.
We are here to see whether you will ask the hard questions that have been avoided for
far too long.
And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Amanda.
To Ms. Bondi, we are deeply disappointed by the way you and your leadership in this department
have treated survivors.
And today, while you're being questioned, we ask you to look in the eyes of every single
one of us.
And remember Virginia Roberts-Giuffre, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the trauma
that she had endured.
We ask you to remember the lives that we have lost during this process.
Accountability means real answers, not evasion.
It means transparency, not more hiding.
And we ask Congress that if Pam Bondi has been found where you have misled or gave false
testimony, you must be held to the same standard as everyone else.
No title, no power, no connections should change that.
And to the American people, take heed.
Be mindful of any government or any powerful people who try to tell us that what we live
through is not real.
That what happened to us didn't happen.
Who ask us to doubt what our ears can hear and what our eyes can plainly see.
That is how abuse is protected and that is how it thrives.
We are here because survivors have had their lives defined by what powerful people did
to them behind closed doors, while institutions have continuously looked away.
Today, Congress has a chance to prove that this country is still not looking away.
We are not here for theater and we are not here for talking points.
We are here for truth.
We are here for justice.
We are here for accountability for Virginia and every survivor.
Hi, my name is Charlene Rochard.
And last year, I stood here as a survivor demanding the release of the Epstein files.
Today, I stand here again as a citizen demanding accountability.
Now that Congress is questioning Pam Bondi of the Department of Justice about the handling
of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Let me be clear.
Survivors are furious.
We watched the Justice Department botch redactions so badly that victims' images were exposed
while predators' identities were kept hidden and protected.
That does not feel like an accident or a clerical error.
It feels like betrayal.
The people who were supposed to protect us instead shielded abusers and re-traumatized
survivors.
And we're expected to accept that as standard procedure?
We do not.
Pam Bondi claims she was defending the independence and integrity of the Justice Department.
But survivors have every right to ask.
Where was all that integrity when survivors were exposed?
Where was that independence when victims were silenced?
Where was all that commitment to justice when the truth was buried to protect reputations?
These are not partisan attacks.
These are demands for basic human morality and accountability.
When officials are accused of weaponizing the Justice Department, we know exactly what
that means because we've lived through the consequences.
This inquiry confirms what survivors have known for decades.
The Justice Department has been influenced and manipulated in ways that harmed us.
We are told to wait for transparency, to trust a system that already failed us,
to accept redactions that protect the powerful and expose the powerless.
But our trauma wasn't delayed.
Our pain was not postponed.
And our trust has been shattered.
So I will say what many survivors feel.
Pam Bondi and the Justice Department failed us repeatedly across administrations,
across political lines, across decades.
And the people who had the authority to intervene chose silence, secrecy,
and self-preservation and called it justice.
I'm here to make sure no one in the Justice Department,
no matter their title, rewrites history or escapes accountability.
And so today, I'm asking survivors, allies, lawmakers, and citizens to refuse silence.
Demand oversight.
Demand transparency.
Demand a Justice Department that protects the vulnerable instead of the powerful.
Stand with us.
Speak with us.
And do not look away.
Accountability will not come unless we insist on it together.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Please welcome Representative Nancy Mace.
Hold on one second.
I just want to let members of the media know that because the judiciary hearing
is starting soon, some of the survivors are going to go take their seat right now.
But we are going to continue this press conference because we have a few more
important statements to make.
And Representative Mace.
All right.
Thank you.
Good morning.
For thousands of years, women have been considered second-class citizens.
Back to the book of Genesis chapter 24, when Dinah was raped by a prince,
they tried to negotiate a deal to sweep it under the rug until her brothers took up swords.
And today, the Epstein survivors who are here, advocating on their behalf,
want America and the world to know they are no longer second-class citizens.
And women in this country should never be treated like second-class citizens.
And their stories are truth.
Their stories are real.
They are vulnerable.
It is traumatic.
And it is lifelong trauma for each and every one of them.
I have lost all faith in the justice system today.
But I have not lost faith in the stories of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
And I want the survivors to know that the world is watching.
And we must show them what we're made of.
We're made of the courage of the Epstein survivors.
We're made of the bravery of the Epstein survivors.
We're made of the truth of the Epstein survivors.
And we're here today to demand justice for the Epstein survivors.
Because their stories are our stories.
There are judges all across the country, all across the United States of America,
who are revealing the names and the identities and the residents, the addresses,
the contact information of rape victims everywhere.
Rape victims who come forward and name names are sued by their rapists.
This is happening not just to them, but to women everywhere.
In my case, I went to the law enforcement over two years ago.
Evidence on a silver platter.
Today, not a single person arrested, not a single person in jail.
And so the days of the cover-up are over.
And I am begging the media, don't make this partisan.
This is about the victims.
And this will go down, the Epstein saga, and Maxwell,
this will go down as one of the greatest cover-ups in American history.
And I'm going to stand with the Epstein survivors until my last breath
to ensure that the rich and powerful do not get away with this.
Because America's system is a two-tiered system of justice.
There's one for the rich and powerful, and there's one for the rest of us.
And those days are over.
And I want the rich and powerful, the princes, the princesses,
the prime ministers, the former presidents to know your days are numbered.
Thank you and God bless each and every one of you.
So I just want to just acknowledge that who are just before us are grown women.
But it's not hard for me when I look at them to see a 17-year-old, a 16-year-old,
a 15-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 9-year-old.
We're talking about children who were groomed, preyed upon, exploited, raped, trafficked,
dreams permanently deferred, bodies violated, and spirits permanently bruised.
And Virginia's a book nobody's girl.
It's titled that because she felt she belonged to no one, that no one cared.
These survivors have been used, abused, and discarded.
Jeffrey Epstein can rot in hell, and Jelaine Maxwell can follow suit.
And all of those co-conspirators and accomplices deserve to be named and shamed.
Because as Virginia once said, if we don't know who they are,
the monsters are still out there harming people.
So I thank you for being here today.
This is a season of call a thing a thing.
So I have to be direct.
Survivors gathered here today, I'm so grateful for their courage and leadership,
and equally devastated and furious about what they have endured.
You were failed by so many powerful people that could have protected your childhood.
You were failed by a government that ignored your cries for decades.
Truly an institutional betrayal.
We are fighting with every bone in our bodies for you.
The files that have been released have further detailed a vivid picture
of depraved behavior and dehumanization.
Violent violations hurt and harm no person, no person, no child should ever endure.
It is an abuse and harm that changes you on a cellular level for the rest of your life.
It is a lifetime sentence.
And together we are fighting for every survivor carrying visible and invisible scars,
burdened by shame.
Let me be clear, the shame is not yours to carry.
Shame on the people that abused you.
Shame on the government that failed you.
The shame is not yours to carry.
And we must meet your courage with real action.
And again, although I know our survivors have left to take their seats at the judiciary hearing,
I'm speaking to all the Epstein survivors, but to all survivors
for whom the Epstein survivors are a current proxy for.
This moment requires that we meet their courage with real action.
These powerful abuses have been protected by institutions that are more concerned
with the wealthy and well-connected than centering survivors.
The Department of Justice must continue to release files and they must correct course
as we've demanded from the beginning.
The identities of survivors in these files must be redacted and protected.
And this can't end with the release of the files.
We must see thorough investigations followed by swift accountability
for all that enabled and incited this abuse.
Words are important, but actions are what matter now.
And that's why we will not yield.
Thank you for being here today and our work continues.
Good morning, everyone.
I am Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury and I am so proud to represent New Mexico's
first congressional district and to stand with the survivors
and to be joined by my colleagues from the Oversight, Judiciary,
and other committees of jurisdiction in this case.
While the survivors have left to attend the Pam Bondi hearing that starts in just a few moments,
we will stay for a few extra moments to answer questions of the press.
You see behind me members of the Oversight Committee that have been engaged
in a months-long bipartisan investigation in the Epstein case.
Let me begin by saying one thing.
Believe the survivors.
We are being asked every single day to name names.
They have named the names.
They are in the files.
Believe the survivors.
Believe your eyes.
Believe what you are reading.
They have named the names and for the last 20 years,
justice has not been served here in these United States.
20 years ago, in 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI drew up a 56-page
indictment that included 32 counts of federal crimes against Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators
and one year later dropped the case.
In the years that ensued, hundreds and potentially thousands of additional victims of sexual violence
were allowed to happen because the United States government failed to act.
Today, that same injustice is continuing right now here in the halls of Congress,
the halls of the Department of Justice, and yes, in the halls of the White House.
Late last night, I posted an FBI file that names names.
That is the FBI's file.
Those are the names of rich and powerful people, including presidents,
that the FBI itself was tracking in the Epstein investigation.
That is based on victims naming names.
So believe the victims.
Believe your eyes.
The names have been named.
They are in the public domain.
They are in the files and we will tell you unequivocally, we will keep naming names.
While we do, as members of Congress, have access to these unredacted files,
let us be clear.
The law is clear that these files should never have been redacted the way that they are currently.
It is very clear that the United States government is involved in an active cover up and protecting
the allies of the president and the Department of Justice and that active members of this
administration have lied under oath to the American people and to this Congress,
and we will hold you accountable.
Now, it has already been stated multiple times this morning,
the governments across the world are acting.
Governments across the world are demanding accountability.
People are rising up.
Survivors are coming forward.
People are naming names and names are being taken down.
Yet here in the United States, the injustice that has spanned now two decades is continuing
because of an active cover up by the president himself.
So what we ask all of you, the American people, members of the press,
the eyes of the world who are watching us here in the United States,
believe the survivors.
Have courage.
Do the right thing.
Because the survivors have already had the courage to say those names over and over again,
and they have more courage and guts than half of the people in the buildings behind us
and most of the people in this town.
But we want you to know that we will not let this injustice stand.
We will stand here every day with the survivors.
We will not stop.
We will look through every file.
We will follow every lead.
And justice will be served.
And to every survivor out there here in the United States and across the world,
the millions of survivors, girls, women, boys, people who are watching,
we know the eyes of the world are on us.
We stand with you.
We are fighting for you.
You are not alone.
And whether you have come forward or not,
we want you to know that we are fighting for you.
We see you.
And we will fight for justice.
And so with that, we will open it up for questions.
And some of us are going to head over to the Judiciary Committee
where Pam Bondi has to answer some very serious questions.
Do we have any questions from the press?
Yes.
Several members of the British political class have lost their positions,
as you've mentioned, as a result of being associated with the Epstein files.
Do you think that people in the Trump administration,
like Secretary Lettnick, should lose their job
as a result of misrepresenting their relationship with Epstein?
Absolutely.
It is very clear that Howard Lettnick lied to the American people
about the nature of his relationship
and that he repetitively lied,
including potentially perjuring himself yesterday
right behind me in the United States Senate.
We have the files.
We know the nature of the relationship.
We know that there are multiple witnesses
who shared information with the FBI
about Howard Lettnick's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
It's time for him to stand down.
What message does it send about our country to our kids
when people in Europe are being held accountable,
but people in the United States are not being held accountable for the same
exact situation?
So we have to hold people in this administration accountable
no matter how powerful they are.
And this is Suha Supermanian from Virginia.
Over time, we've heard more about the involvement of
the man formerly known as Prince Andrew.
We've heard statements from Buckingham Palace
and from William and Kate
saying their thoughts are with the victims.
I just wonder what your thoughts are.
Jeffrey Epstein was a man who was invited to the palace.
He was a man who was in the midst of the royal family.
What would you say to King Charles
with regard to what he should do as the head of the royal household?
Should he get involved and publicly answer questions?
What action would you like to see?
Well, I'm humbled that you would ask a mere
citizen congresswoman from New Mexico
to comment on what is happening with the royal family.
But let me just say this generally.
When you examine what the FBI and the United States
investigated of Jeffrey Epstein for more than a decade,
it is very clear that his crimes included not just sex trafficking,
but international money laundering,
potential influence peddling of state secrets to foreign governments.
We still don't understand the nature of his intelligence work.
And it is not only a stain on the reputation of all world leaders,
that there are leaders that were in association with Epstein and his sexual crimes,
but it's also a national security risk.
And I think that what has unfolded in the UK over the last couple of weeks
is that Jeffrey Epstein was a national security risk to the UK.
And it's important that the individuals who may have
either intentionally or inadvertently shared information be held accountable.
Yeah, I think in terms of King Charles, I mean,
the family's reputation is on the line right now.
And so I hope they do the right thing by letting authorities
hold Andrew accountable for anything he did.
I still want to continue to see if Andrew will come and testify before our committee.
But certainly, the victims have said that justice has many forms.
And one of them is the reputations and titles
and power of many of these people who were involved in these crimes.
And so their reputation is on the line right now.
Yeah, is that so?
Is that question that you have given that Epstein was
in amongst the royal family via Andrew for so long?
Is that question that you have, perhaps,
did the wider royal family know more than we know,
no more than they're listening?
It's hard for me to say.
I think that's why we want all the documents
to know exactly what evidence there is of any sort of knowledge of the crimes.
And I think especially when you have a peek behind the redactions
and some of the email correspondence,
Jeffrey Epstein had a vast network of leaders,
businessmen, others that he was involved with globally.
And it's not necessarily indicative that he was doing work for governments
or that others in the government were involved.
But it's clear that his influence peddling and his business scheme
involved maintaining those kinds of relationships.
So I think at this point, it's unclear that there's any evidence
that points to broader participation outside of the individuals
who've so far been named.
Are there other questions?
Yes, go ahead.
My name is Christine Hillyer and I'm with Kapukai Government
with CPS and Family Support System.
Oh, absolutely.
I think one of the things that we met extensively
a number of members and survivors yesterday
to talk about what comes next.
And I want to make clear that both the members of Congress
who are supporting the survivors and the survivors
see this not as just a moment of accountability in this case,
but about changing the culture and trajectory of violence against women
and sexual violence here in the United States and around the world.
And it's very clear that our justice system
is not a trauma-informed justice system.
The way in which the justice system is not only covering up the case now,
but re-traumatizing and putting victims at risk is a part of the problem.
But there are many laws that need to be changed.
In addition to the bill that was introduced yesterday
by Congresswoman Ledger Fernandez,
there's a whole slate of legislation around violence
and sexual violence around women,
dealing with state statutes around the statute of limitations on these issues,
and building a system that not only believes survivors,
but supports them.
And so part of our goal over the coming months
is going to be to lift up survivor stories at more lengths
so that they can tell their stories,
so that young women especially and vulnerable people
know what it looks like,
so they can help protect themselves,
and so that we can change the laws to protect survivors in a better way.
Yeah, go ahead.
My question is, they have automatic interlocks, like safety interlocks.
Do you consider the operating system of the government an operating system?
And if so, where are our minimum safety standards, like NIST and ISO?
My son, just to add, was trapped in a structural defect
after a major opium data breach in 2015,
where my high-level security clearance was compromised.
And since then, my identity has been burned by paperwork
and structural defects across the nation and internationally.
So I have been endlessly abducted by our own government repeatedly
across the United Kingdom,
and then across the U.S., Nevada, Colorado...
Would it be okay if we can talk to you a little bit more offline about your case?
But I'll just say...
Yeah, I'll just say this.
No, it's a political system.
It's not an operating system, and we do need to reform the system.
We'll take one more question,
and then we're going to go ahead and head over to judiciary.
Do you want to go ahead and start?
I have a lot of questions about where the two and a half million files
that they're withholding are,
and whether they plan to release them,
and whether they plan to follow the law.
That's the reality, because right now they're not following the law.
They're not following our subpoena from our committee,
and so we're going to continue to ask questions like that.
Thank you.
I mean, personally, the only thing I want to hear from Pam Bondi is,
I resign.
But we know that's not going to happen today.
She needs to answer for not only her complete debacle of rolling out these files,
but her lack of compliance with the law
and the ways in which she has systemically failed the survivors.
So thank you all so much.
Thanks for joining us.

