WASHINGTON — Steps away from the Capitol, victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, on Wednesday demanded that all people who received sexual favors through Epstein be identified.

They also demanded that Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Epstein who is serving 20 years for sex trafficking, serve her full sentence without special treatment. Maxwell was moved to a minimum security prison in Texas after President Donald Trump’s lawyers and a senior Justice Department official interviewed her in July.

During the interview, Maxwell, who is seeking a presidential pardon or reduction of her sentence, downplayed Trump’s long friendship with Epstein and praised the president.

The victims’ demands arrive as members of Congress from both parties are pushing for a bill that would demand the administration release all of its investigative material on Epstein.

“We are not asking for pity, we are demanding accountability,” said Lisa Phillips, one of the victims who spoke Wednesday. “Congress must choose: Will you continue to protect predators, or will you finally protect survivors? Transparency is justice.”

The Epstein files have become a burden for Trump, who has for months urged his base not to focus on them. At the White House on Wednesday, Trump called the matter “a Democrat hoax.”

Phillips said she and other victims were compiling a list of people who were “regularly in the Epstein world.” She said the work would “be done by survivors, and for survivors.”

“We know who was involved. We know the game,” said Haley Robson, another victim, who talked about wanting accountability. “We are sitting here for 20 years waiting.”

Many Epstein Files Not Released

Epstein’s voluminous file contains many records that have not been made public. Those records became the focus of claims, long stoked by Trump’s allies, that authorities might have covered up the involvement of other rich and powerful men. Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, had long been connected to those men, cultivating friendships with Trump and former President Bill Clinton, among others.

A series of articles by The Miami Herald revealed how the criminal justice system had bent over backward for Epstein, despite copious evidence against him. His treatment has fueled mistrust in the government and claims of cover-ups.

Some Democratic members of Congress who once dismissed such claims as baseless conspiracy theories have also come to embrace them as the pressure mounts on Trump.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials in Trump’s administration had long suggested that undisclosed files on Epstein included a “client list.” But the Justice Department and FBI concluded in July that no such list exists, and Bondi has released little new information.

Let Down by ‘the Politicians’

Robson, who was 16 when she was recruited to give Epstein massages and procure other girls, said she felt let down by “the politicians” who she said had turned the Epstein case into a partisan issue.

“Shame on you for using our trauma to weaponize this moment,” she said.

In a recent unsigned memo, the Justice Department and the FBI said that the Epstein files did not contain evidence that would justify investigating other people. Bondi has said that videos of child sexual abuse found by investigators were material that he downloaded, not, as some have suggested, videos that Epstein recorded of crimes by himself or his friends.

Wendy Pisante, another survivor who spoke Wednesday, said she had decided to share what she had gone through because she and other victims want recognition and accountability, and to be able to move on.

“Being a survivor is not a headline. It’s our life,” she said. “And silence only protects predators, not children.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Minho Kim/Eric Lee

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