Several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have voiced support for a bipartisan push in Washington to release all government files relating to the disgraced financier, who died in a Manhattan prison in 2019.
Speaking outside the US Capitol on Wednesday, Anouska De Georgiou, who was abused by both Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, said the campaign for transparency came at a personal cost. “Every day of this journey toward healing has come at a profound cost to my mental health,” she said. “But this legislation really matters.”
She argued that the only motive to oppose the bill would be to “conceal wrongdoing”, and urged Donald Trump to use his influence to back the effort.
The press conference, held at the House Triangle, drew large numbers of reporters and demonstrators. Some carried placards accusing the president of “protecting paedophiles”, while others demanded the government “release the files” and expressed solidarity with survivors.
Annie Farmer, now 46, told the crowd she was just 16 when Epstein and Maxwell flew her to New Mexico. “For so many years, it felt like Epstein’s criminal behaviour was an open secret,” she said. “Not only did many others participate in the abuse, it is clear that many were aware of his interest in girls and very young women and chose to look the other way because it benefited them.”
At the same event, Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who co-authored the proposed “Epstein Files Transparency Act”, said he was close to securing the 218 signatures needed to bypass House leadership and bring the legislation to a vote.
“Hopefully they can find their spines,” Massie said of Republican holdouts. “I’m calling on my colleagues to be one of the next two who sponsors this discharge petition.”
With all 212 House Democrats expected to sign, Massie needs six Republican colleagues. Four have already joined, including conservative figures Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Greene told reporters: “This is an issue that doesn’t have political boundaries. The truth needs to come out, and the government holds the truth.”
Representative Nancy Mace, who has spoken publicly about her own experiences of sexual abuse, also added her name. After meeting survivors earlier in the week, Mace said she left in tears, later describing a “full blown panic attack” in a post on social media.
Massie’s Democratic co-sponsor, Ro Khanna, said the measure was not aimed at the president. “This is not against President Trump. I would like nothing more than a Truth Social post from him after this press conference saying, ‘just release the files’.”
The legislation would compel the justice department and other federal agencies to publish all unclassified records relating to Epstein. Personally identifiable information would remain redacted.
On Tuesday, the House oversight committee released more than 33,000 pages of documents connected to Epstein, though many were court filings already in the public domain. Massie dismissed the release as “woefully incomplete” and accused the justice department of “curating” the material.
House speaker Mike Johnson has described the bipartisan petition as “moot” and “superfluous”, pointing instead to the oversight committee’s ongoing investigation. The White House has labelled the petition a “hostile act” that would undermine that work. Trump himself called demands for more disclosures a “Democrat hoax that never ends”.
Even if the measure passes the House, it faces a difficult path in the Senate, where majority leader John Thune has given no commitment to bring it to a vote. Should it reach the president’s desk, Trump could veto it, forcing supporters to attempt the more challenging task of securing a two-thirds majority in both chambers.
