Survivors of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell have shared their gut-wrenching stories as they demanded that the United States Congress pass legislation forcing the release of all unclassified records related to the disgraced financier’s case.

They addressed the media outside the Capitol Hill legislative complex on Wednesday, expressing their support for legislation in the House of Representatives that would demand the release of the Epstein records, including those held by the FBI and the Justice Department.

The victims also demanded that all those people who received sexual favours through Epstein be identified.

Despite the House Oversight Committee releasing tens of thousands of records related to Jeffrey Epstein this week, documents it subpoenaed from the Justice Department, the fulsome record remains under lock and key, prompting calls from Epstein victims no less for greater transparency from the Trump administration

One of Epstein’s victims, Haley Robson said,  “Mr. President. Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican. Not that that matters because this is not political. However, I cordially invite you to the Capitol to meet me in person so you can understand this is not a hoax. We are real human beings. This is real trauma.”

Further sharing her personal story of the alleged abuse suffered.

“I was a 16-year-old high school student athlete who made good grades and had high aspirations for college, when I was recruited and asked by a classmate of mine, alongside a 20-year-old male, if I wanted to give an old rich guy a massage… but what high school girl would not want to do that? That day changed my life forever. And when I got into the massage room, Jeffrey Epstein undressed and asked me to do things to him. My eyes welled up with tears, and I have never been more scared in my life. When it was over, he paid me $200 and requested in exchange that I bring a girl each time to make another $200. I told him I did not want to do that. And then he gave me an ultimatum. Either you come here and massage me when I call you, or you bring me friends of yours to massage.”

Marina Lacera says she was 14 years old when she met Epstein for the first time. “It was the summer of high school. I was working three jobs to try to support my mom and my sister when a friend of mine in the neighborhood told me I could make $300 to give an older guy a massage. It went from a dream job to the worst nightmare. Jeffrey’s assistant would call me and tell me that I needed to be at the house so often that I ended up dropping out of high school before ninth grade, and I never went back. From 14 to 17 years old, I went and worked for Jeffrey instead of receiving an education. Every day I hoped he would offer me a real job as one of his assistants or something, something important. I would finally have made it big, like we say, the American dream. That day never came. I had no way, no way out.”

Epstein survivors share their stories:

Audio recording

Other victims also sharply criticised the recently released audio recording of a Justice Department interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking, in which she feigned ignorance of the abuse and downplayed the relationship between Epstein and President Trump.

Another of Epstein’s victims, Teresa Helm said, “She (Ghislaine Maxwell) got this airtime and platform, and her voice was elevated way before our voices were elevated here today. And that same calm, manipulative voice that she had been so polite there that day was the same polite, coercive, manipulative voice that I heard as she was grooming me to then send me off to the home of Jeffrey Epstein, where he would assault me. So that’s what she was doing for hours, speaking with me, building a relationship with me, building trust with me, allowing me to believe that I was going to get this job, a dream job, that I had been recruited from my college, flown across the country from Los Angeles to New York City to interview. So I thought. So her voice that day was the same voice that sent me off to a monster. Nothing can be believed from what she says.”

President Donald Trump said, “This is a Democrat hoax that never ends. You know, it reminds me a little of the Kennedy situation. We gave him everything over and over again, more and more and more. And nobody’s ever satisfied. From what I understand, I could check, but from what I understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given. But it’s really a Democrat hoax because they’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president.”

Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna are spearheading an effort for the full release of the files and justice for the victims.

Their full release proposal would require the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to make public all unclassified records in their possession, but it’s unclear how that process might unfold.

The Republican House leadership has argued that the discharge petition effort was moot given the large number of documents already made public. But the files have now become a growing burden for the Trump administration, with a July Reuters Ipsos Poll showing that 69% of respondents thought the federal government was hiding details about Epstein’s clients that likely include a number of very powerful men.