[0:01]Okay. Well, thank you. Uh my name is Robert Garcia. I'm the ranking member uh of the oversight committee of of course I'm here with members of the oversight committee on on Democrats that are
[0:12]clearly focused today on the survivors and accountability, truth and justice. We're going to hear from some of our committee members here in just a second. I want to just give uh some thoughts and
[0:23]then answer uh any questions. Now, we're here in Palm Beach County because so much of this investigation brings us back to this location. We know that the
[0:34]crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and Gain Maxwell, the horrible things that happened to so many women and girls totaling 1,200
[0:42]could have been stopped and halted had authorities here been listened to had prosecutors who made recommendations
[0:54]to the US attorney had been listened to, had survivors been listened to. But time and time again, whether it was at at the law enforcement level or whether it was at the US
[1:05]attorney's office by Alex Accassa and others, that justice was denied and survivors did not receive justice. We know that that led to the additional
[1:15]abuse and trafficking of women and girls, including of Rosa, who you heard from today, and you heard her horrific story.
[1:26]And had folks listened, that would not have happened to her and to so many others. We also want to be clear that especially
[1:37]after today, we want to hear and are demanding to hear from the line prosecutors and law enforcement officials
[1:46]that made some recommendations to prosecute additional names to go after co-conspirators
[1:54]and yet were denied those charges and that evidence was pushed back because of decisions made by the US attorney at the I'm Alex Acasta. Now, we've talked to Mr. Acasta in the past. We have
[2:06]additional questions and I think it's important for anyone that was involved in the case here in Palm Beach to know that while we have reached out to some
[2:15]folks to speak to us voluntarily, you will be compelled to answer questions
[2:26]when Democrats are in the majority. If you were involved in this case and tried to do the right thing and made
[2:37]recommendations to the US attorney to bring prosecutions, we encourage you
[2:47]to testify and to bring your information to the committee. But if you're unwilling to do so, we are going to compel that testimony because those
[2:57]survivors deserve to understand who and why decisions were made to not move forward with prosecutions that then led
[3:06]to the abuse of so many more women and girls. I'll also say that I want to reiterate to the attorney general that we expect
[3:17]to see her in front of our committee in just a couple of weeks and that we expect Republicans and James Comr could
[3:25]his decision alone to ensure that that testimony is recorded under oath and released to the American public. The survivors deserve nothing less and I want to again thank
[3:37]them for their courage today to provide testimony under oath. With that, I'm going to turn this over to Representative Frankl, who of course hosted us here today. >> Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank you to
[3:46]Mr. Garcia and my colleagues. Uh I I've been trying to get this hearing here for many years, and I thank you so much for finally bringing folks here because
[3:56]folks, so much of the truth lies here, hidden in Palm Beach County. And we still have yet under oath heard from some of the key players. Barry Krisher,
[4:07]who was state attorney at the time, the two prosecutors he sent in to a grand jury room to debase uh our survivors. Uh we need to hear from them and I can give
[4:19]you another list of associates, law enforcement, state attorney employees who have some of the answers to the big
[4:30]question is why did Epstein get such a slap on the wrist? Secondly, uh to Courtney Wild, a bill has been filed
[4:39]actually numerous times to deal with her concern that the survivors were not given notice of the plea and had any
[4:48]opportunity to weigh into that. And uh I'm just going to end by saying this because what makes this so tragic and
[4:56]sad is how many lives how many lives how could have been spared the agony of abuse had the prosecutors in Palm Beach County
[5:08]acted properly or had they not been overpowered I should say overpowered by Jeffrey Epstein and his his team of
[5:16]lawyers, politicians, business people, whoever who who obviously overpowered our our justice system. And with that, again, thank
[5:27]thank you. Where are you? Thank you so much for for bringing us here and all of you for your attention. I yield back. So, um, you know, we're here at at
[5:43]ground zero for where Epstein's crimes occurred. uh crimes that were uh moral crimes,
[5:53]civil crimes, criminal crimes, uh crimes that I would consider uh really against uh humanity
[6:01]uh given the systemic harm caused by really what was a global enterprise of trafficking girls.
[6:12]Impossible for me to not think about my own 17-year-old daughter Again, you see grown women before you who are courageous in their
[6:24]refusal to be silent, but they were mere girls, 14, 15, 16, 17, talented artists,
[6:35]dancers, aspiring teachers, lawyers, models. Their bodies were violated,
[6:44]their dreams devastated, their lives irreparably harmed. Uh when you are violated in such a way
[6:55]as a child, it changes uh on a very foundational and deep level who you are forever. Your ability to love, to
[7:06]receive love. But it's not only an emotional toll and certainly the cost of trauma is a high
[7:18]one, but there are also economic expenses, an inability to pursue a job, to keep a
[7:28]job. Uh 20 years of 30 years, three decades of legal fees that no one was counting on. And not only uh was their innocence
[7:39]corrupted and their bodies violated and their lives changed, their very rights were violated.
[7:47]The Crime Victim's Rights Act grants individuals who are victims of federal crimes specific enforcable rights,
[7:56]including protection from the accused, reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of public
[8:04]proceedings, and the right to be heard. It ensures victims are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect. Well,
[8:15]that did not happen. their rights were violated. And I'm working closely uh with survivors for a legislative fix of restorative justice.
[8:25]That's what brings us here today to learn from the survivors, to identify failures, to hold predators and abusers accountable.
[8:37]And although I commend the survivors for their courage, I look forward to a day where survivors do not have to relive their trauma in
[8:48]order to compel action from their government. And finally, although this is a fight specifically for justice, accountability, and healing for our
[8:58]survivors who deserve so much more than sympathy, which is why seeking to advance a legislative restorative justice fix to acknowledge the economic abuse and financial hardship that many
[9:10]of them still carry today. But this is a fight for all survivors that are victims of sexual assault and human trafficking. And so for that to ensure that there is
[9:21]no eraser, I want to acknowledge the incredible work of Toronto Burke of the Me Too movement. Um Amber Tamblin and many more. And in my own uh district of
[9:32]the Massachusetts 7th, uh my life, my choice, and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. This is a fight for all survivors. Good afternoon. I'm Melanie Stanbury and
[9:48]I am very deeply proud to represent New Mexico's first congressional district and to be part of a state delegation in New Mexico that is seeking to turn the
[9:58]Epstein files into Epstein trials. As we stand here today, New Mexico is the first and only state to pass a state law
[10:08]to investigate this case. And what I think is extraordinary about today, and I want to acknowledge Congresswoman Frankle, is that this is
[10:19]the first congressional hearing on this case to ever be held in West Palm Beach. Think about that.
[10:30]The first criminal allegation against Jeffrey Epstein happened more than 25 years ago in this community.
[10:39]Police look the other way. Your state attorney general look the other way. Our national and federal attorney generals and investigatory bodies look the other
[10:50]way. The FBI had gobs of evidence that there were criminal enterprises going on here in this community that included the
[11:00]exploitation of children, the trafficking of children across state lines, international trafficking of children and women, and financial crimes.
[11:11]>> That's right. And over the last two and a half decades, not a single congressional hearing has been held on this case here in this community where
[11:21]it all started. And so I want to say thank you to Congresswoman Frankle and to our soontobe chair of the
[11:31]oversight committee because we would not be here if it were not for them and for the survivors who were brave enough to show up today and to tell their stories
[11:40]on camera for the world to hear. Now I just want to say this as I close out my comments. There are lots of discussions
[11:50]about the failure of the system to hold Jeffrey Epstein, Galain Maxwell, and the potentially dozens of men who exploited young girls and trafficked and
[12:02]participated in the sexual exploitation of survivors. But this was not an isolated incident of failures of a system. This is a system
[12:13]that was designed to exploit children. It was a system that protected the wealthy and powerful. And it was a system that intentionally
[12:24]chose not to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein under federal law, which enabled him to commit potentially hundreds of other cases of rape, abuse, grooming, and
[12:35]transnational sex trafficking. That is not just system failure. That is a system that was designed to enable rich and powerful people to get away
[12:46]with anything that they wanted. >> That's right. >> And so we're here today to make sure that the voices of survivors, that the
[12:55]stories of survivors are heard, not just in this community, but across the world. and to make sure that we take on that system directly
[13:06]to say we are not going to stand for this one more moment and to end the injustices that have allowed this to happen in this community and communities
[13:17]all across the country. And so we demand accountability. We demand action. We demand that Pam Bondi show up for her
[13:26]deposition. We demand that Donald Trump release the Epstein files. We demand that Todd Blanch actually prosecute these crimes. And we demand
[13:36]accountability for every single perpetrator that is still out there. >> We are coming for you. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I'm Emily Randall. I represent
[13:51]Washington state's sixth district and I have been moved over and over and over by the stories of such brave women.
[14:00]Brave women who are forced by a system of power to relive their trauma over and over and over in pursuit of justice. And what I hear from my neighbors, and I
[14:11]know that my colleagues hear from the American people across the country, is that this case isn't only about survivors of Epstein's trafficking and
[14:21]sexual crimes, but it is about survivors everywhere who finally feel a little bit of hope that their stories will be listened to
[14:32]and that they will be able to imagine a future in which there is justice. But we're not there yet because we still
[14:42]are experiencing a Department of Justice that is engaging in a massive cover up. 2.5 million documents
[14:53]still unreleased in this Epstein investigation. And yet the release over and over and over again thousands of times
[15:05]of the names and personally identifying information of survivors. There's nothing else to call that but
[15:15]witness intimidation because it cannot be accidental the number of times that co-conspirators and powerful men have their names
[15:25]redacted in the files and survivors names are unredacted. No matter how many times they have asked for that privacy and protection. No matter how many women
[15:36]testified under the understanding that they would be identified as Jane Doe, we are seeing information about survivors who have already been traumatized over
[15:47]and over and over again be released as part of this cover up and part of this intimidation strategy. We are going to continue to fight so
[15:58]that those who are actually culpable, the dozens, hundreds of people who are actually culpable have their day in the sunlight,
[16:10]that we record their testimony, that we investigate this to the full extent, and we are committed every day to working alongside the survivors to ensure that
[16:21]they are protected to the best of our abilities. Thank you. >> Hi everyone. Yasman Ansari, Congresswoman from Arizona's third
[16:30]district. I was a child just a few years younger than many of the women who testified today when Jeffrey Epstein was carrying out his heinous crimes right
[16:40]here in West Palm Beach. These women were girls at the time. Over 1,000 girls. girls who should have been protected, but girls who were failed by
[16:51]adults, by institutions, and by their government. And what happened here in West Palm Beach and across the country and across the world was not simply just
[17:02]about the evil of one man. It was a systemic failure that was shaped by inequality, by influence, and by impunity.
[17:11]All of this has been exacerbated by the most corrupt administration in American history, carrying out the most egregious
[17:20]coverup in American history. And this systemic failure requires systemic solutions. In the minority, oversight
[17:31]Democrats led by ranking member Garcia have forced everything that has gotten us to this point today. We would not be here if it were not for Democrats on the
[17:42]oversight committee pushing every subpoena pushing for these depositions, pushing for these transcribed interviews, pushing for Pam Bondi to come before the oversight committee.
[17:52]This has been an egregious cover up by the Trump administration, but also a complete abdication of responsibility by Republicans on the oversight committee, barring a few, and by Republican
[18:04]chairman James Comr. And we will continue whether now or when we are in the majority to make sure that every
[18:13]single person who enabled, who perpetrated or who covered up these heinous crimes will be held accountable. And we know from what we heard from the
[18:24]women today, and we've known this, it's in the files that there are rich and powerful men out there right now continuing to live their lives without
[18:34]any consequences. and we assure you that day will end. >> Good afternoon. I'm James Walkenshaw
[18:44]from Virginia's 11th district. We're here today in Palm Beach County, ground zero, the center, the place where
[18:54]Jeffrey Epstein and Galain Maxwell's massive child sex trafficking ring started. We're just miles from Mara Lago, the place where the close
[19:05]friendship between Epstein and Donald Trump grew, where Virginia Dufrey was trafficked and later raped by Jeffrey Epstein. And we heard today powerful
[19:16]stories from survivors including Rosa from Usuzbekiststan who was recruited and held hostage by the visa that Epstein controlled.
[19:28]powerful stories and I hope the world was watching. I specifically hope that Alexa Acasta was watching because we
[19:37]learned today from Rosa that she was raped time after time after time by Jeffrey Epstein
[19:47]while he was serving the sweetheart deal sentence that Alex Aosta gave him. While he was on unsupervised, very
[19:58]unsupervised release, he was continuing to commit the very crimes that women like Maria Farmer and others brought to
[20:06]the attention of the FBI decades ago. I hope another person was watching today. I hope Pam Bondi was watching. And I hope she saw the courage of the
[20:18]survivors here today who told their stories in most cases again in front of all the cameras with all of
[20:28]the bright lights for the world to see. And I hope Pam Bonnie will feel some shame for the fact that she has tried time after time after time
[20:38]>> to avoid public accountability. She wants to answer questions behind closed doors in private where the world
[20:48]can't see it with no video. Well, Pam Bonnie, that is not good enough. That is not good enough. You need to show one ounce of the courage that the women here
[20:59]today showed. They deserve your public testimony on video. The American people deserve it, too. I'll go back to the ranking member. >> Thank you. And we're going to open up
[21:09]for a couple questions. Before I do, I want to say a couple important things as we close. Number one, I hope to today reminds the public that this investigation is not a hoax and that
[21:21]it's not over and that unlike Todd Blanch, the acting AG who just a week ago said that the DOJ was moving on from the Epson investigation,
[21:32]we understand that it is alive and well and moving forward and we have a lot of work to do ahead of us. And the second thing is for this community, it's important for the folks of Palm Beach
[21:44]County, Palm Beach, West Palm Beach to understand and to know that there's a lot of folks that worked for law enforcement that were lawyers involved in this case. There were investigators
[21:55]or that have heard stories or know information or evidence that we want to access. So, I encourage anyone from the Palm Beach community that may have
[22:05]information about Jeffrey Epstein and Galain Maxwell, the crimes or the coverups that happened to please contact the oversight committee. We have a protected
[22:16]system, a whistleblower system that we encourage you to please access if you have information that could help us in our investigation. And with that, I'll open it up for any questions. >> Your last interview now is scheduled for
[22:28]July 15th. Do you expect How many investigation continues?
[22:41]>> Look, we're working right now through a list of additional subpoenas that we want to get through. Some we're communicating directly with the majority on so we're waiting to see if they move on those or not. But I think it's e it's
[22:52]safe to say that we are interested in speaking to anyone that was involved, particularly prosecutors that were involved in making recommendations about the sweetheart deal, what happened here
[23:03]in Palm Beach, and more broadly in some of the other cases that were brought forward to the government. That's one piece of folks we want to speak to. We also have additional questions for other folks that we believe were involved in assisting Jeffrey Epson and Galain
[23:14]Maxwell. Uh some of those you and I discussed earlier, but we're not at this moment ready to release additional names. back investify
[23:31]behind closed doors. No cameras. There's no back. Uh so let me just I mean let me add um
[23:49]one is obviously on as rel survivors we're never going to force a survivor to to be compelled to speak in front of the committee but any survivor that wants to speak and have the opportunity absolutely and we definitely have additional questions for folks that
[24:00]we've talked to I'll take Alex Aosta as a very good example we definitely have additional questions as far as members from our party we have been nonpartisan in our approach we don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat we'll talk to
[24:11]you and I think we said earlier that we have additional questions I want to understand why Merrick Garland in the former former justice department under the Biden administration did little to nothing to bring justice for the survivors or have additional
[24:22]prosecutions. And so Merrick Garland for me is at the top of that list of folks that we need to speak to and ask questions of and and there I think there a variety of other folks and if anyone else wants to add to that there's a
[24:34]variety of other folks we want to speak with. Yes. >> Yes. Repres the
[24:47]And yet you the names of the survivors. What do you
[24:58]do moving forward to try to prevent your own? Yeah, I mean I I put the blame squarely
[25:17]on former Attorney General Pam Bondi for that. She has had a direct hand in this cover up from the beginning. Not only did they move slowly, but they were
[25:26]sloppy. We heard from survivors, as you mentioned, that you know, their lives have been destroyed while names of men and co-conspirators who committed the
[25:36]crimes were not were redacted. So I think that there needs to be a nor that's why we need to hear from Pam Bondi at the end of this month under oath on camera in front of the American
[25:47]people because she is to blame for this and there should be I believe accountability for her and for what she did here. She has ruined lives. I mean we heard such devastating stories today
[25:58]about people's children hearing these you know these stories for the first time. You know women whose details of their sexual assault and abuse was revealed because of the botching of this
[26:08]viles. The law was very clear that any personally identifiable information as it pertains to survivors should have been redacted. This is not an accident. The Department of Justice chose to do
[26:20]this because they want to silence people. They want this to go away. Donald Trump has made that abundantly clear. He's directed his staff to make sure that happens. And I believe that
[26:31]the reason these mistakes were made was again not an accident and and at the direction of of Pam Bondi. Yeah. And >> yeah, go ahead. >> And moreover, I would just say that what
[26:41]this proves um the fact that um you know, none of our Republican colleagues are here today. Uh for Democrats, this is not a a midterm campaign strategy. This is not about political gamesmanship
[26:53]or or upsmanship. Um but clearly for them, fighting for the uh naming the Epstein Files in their campaigning, the Epstein files, by the way, are real
[27:03]people. These are real people's lives, right? um that was just purely political for them, you know, as get as proven by their obstruction and by their uh
[27:14]defiance and their unwillingness to comply with uh legally binding subpoenas. And then finally, I would just say something that really just
[27:25]stayed with me today. There have been so many instances of insult to injury. Not only were vile acts committed by this
[27:34]vermin in their predator pedophile ponzi scheme, that is a lifetime sentence for these survivors. This trauma is showing
[27:44]up and manifesting in in in their way in their in their lives in so many ways. But it is insult to injury that there was an institutional betrayal by law enforcement, by the Department of
[27:56]Justice, and now today by House Republicans, and their rights were not honored in the Crime Victim's Rights Act, and the fact as as Congresswoman
[28:07]Randall speaks to that their names have been unredacted. That was some of the most devastating testimony here today. It is insult to
[28:17]injury. And in the words of Virginia Juy, we need to know who the monsters are. We need to follow every single road. We don't care if they're Democrat,
[28:28]Republican, independent, what state they live in, what their job is, if they're a politician, if they're a president, or if even they are a prince. We will
[28:38]follow all roads because this is not political for us. This is deeply personal. This is about these survivors and their families and every monster in
[28:48]the words of Virginia Jupy needs to be named and shamed because they could still be out there committing these evil vile acts. >> Okay, last question.
[28:59]>> Former state attorney invited to testify and testimony. Uh what I can say is that we have
[29:08]invited uh some former uh Florida officials um to testify uh voluntarily. Uh that has yet to happen and so we are
[29:18]prepared uh to compel testimony uh in the future and that's something that we're looking at right now. Thank you very much.