Jeffrey Epstein victims to speak at House event: live updates Bart Jansen, USA TODAY September 3, 2025 at 11:45 PM 0 WASHINGTON – Women who say they were abused by the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein will hold a news conference Sept.
- - Jeffrey Epstein victims to speak at House event: live updates
Bart Jansen, USA TODAY September 3, 2025 at 11:45 PM
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WASHINGTON – Women who say they were abused by the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein will hold a news conference Sept. 3 with House members aiming to force the Justice Department to release all of the criminal investigative files in the case.
The demands pose a challenge for President Donald Trump and some Republican congressional leaders who demanded more information about Epstein for years but now say the full release of documents could hurt his victims.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told reporters a vote to force the Justice Department to release more documents is no longer necessary after a House committee released 33,295 pages of subpoenaed records Sept. 2.
"It's superfluous at this point, and I think we're achieving the desired end here," Johnson said.
More: How Trump and 'terrific guy' Jeffrey Epstein's party boy friendship ended badly
But Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, D-California, are holding a news conference with Epstein's victims on the way to forcing a House vote with a petition from a majority of House members. Khanna said it would be a "bombshell" news conference and Massie said he prayed Johnson wouldn't block a vote.
Victims met privately Sept. 2 with members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee to describe their abuse and their demands for information about who else was involved.
More: 'Full blown panic attack.' Rep. Nancy Mace leaves meeting with Epstein victims in tears
Epstein died by suicide in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His aide, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison season.
Here is what to know about the release of Epstein documents:
More: 'Give me a break': Chris Christie slams Ghislaine Maxwell's Trump praise as phony
Hundreds gather along PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens on Sept. 1, 2025, for one of the 'Workers vs. Billionaires' protests nationwide. Among the issues that came up in the protest of Trump administration policies was the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.House releases some Epstein documents but critics find little new
The House Oversight and Reform Committee released 33,295 pages of documents related to Epstein from the Justice Department on Sept. 2. But lawmakers and other advocates who had been waiting for the records said there was little new.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said on social media that 97% of the documents had already been released with no mention of any client list. He urged the American public not to be fooled.
"Fact check: nearly everything Republicans just supposedly 'released'… …has already been released," Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, said on social media. "They are doing everything in their power to muddy the waters. RELEASE. THE. FILES."
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, departs from a meeting with members of Congress and survivors of abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 2, 2025.Rep. Mace left meeting with victims in tears
In a reflection of how emotion the debate can be, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, left the Sept. 2 Oversight meeting with Epstein's victims in tears and said he had a "very difficult time listening to their stories."
"Full blown panic attack. Sweating. Hyperventilating. Shaking. I can't breathe," Mace wrote on social media.
Mace has said previously on the House floor that she has been drugged and raped.
Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York speaks alongside William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office, at a news conference announcing charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein in New York City, New York, on July 2, 2020.What was released among the records?
The materials that were included at least eight videos of apparent police interviews with victims. Several were timestamped from 2005 and 2006.
In one video, a girl whose appearance and name are edited out said Epstein paid her $350 for a massage and sex when she was 17 years old.
"He has the girls take off their clothes and give him a massage," she said in the 17-minute video.
Other records include audio recordings from the criminal investigation of Epstein in Florida, including what appeared to be an interview with a victim whose name and date of birth were edited out.
A protester holds up a photo of the future President Donald Trump with financier Jeffrey Epstein at a rally in Augusta, Georgia, on Aug. 2, 2025. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting a federal sex trafficking trial.How is Trump involved?
One of the most tantalizing prospects from the Epstein documents is that they might contain a list of wealthy and powerful people who might have helped him avoid criminal charges for decades.
Trump was photographed occasionally with Epstein during the 1990s and road on his private plane. But Trump has denied visiting Epstein's private island, where much of the abuse was reported to have occurred.
Ghislaine Maxwell met for two days in July with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to answer questions about Epstein. She said Trump wasn't involved in abusing girls. She continues to appeal her conviction.
"I never, ever saw any man doing something inappropriate with a woman of any age," Maxwell said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the department has already released all the records that it can about the case and there is no client list. She explained at a July Cabinet meeting where Trump lashed out against questions about Epstein that the remainder of records include pornographic videos she said she would never release and names of victims that shouldn't be revealed.
A federal judge denied Bondi's request to release grand jury transcripts from the investigation.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jeffrey Epstein victims to speak at House event: live updates
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