Epstein survivors speak out ahead of House vote, take aim at Trump
Epstein abuse survivor Haley Robson speaks during a news conference with lawmakers on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A group of women victimized by late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein spoke out at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday ahead of a highly anticipated vote on a House bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s files on Epstein.
“We are fighting for the children,” said survivor Haley Robson, as she held up a photograph of herself as a young girl.
Robson said this is a “human issue” and called for political agendas to be put aside before delivering a direct message to President Donald Trump.
“And to the president of the United States of America, who is not here today, I want to send a clear message to you. While I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files and I’m grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill, I can’t help to be skeptical of what the agenda is. So with that being said, I want to relay this message to you: I am traumatized. I am not stupid.”
“You have put us through so much stress, the lockdown, the halt of these procedures that were supposed to have happened 50 days ago, the Adelita Grijalva who waited to get sworn in, and then get upset when your own party goes against you, because what is being done is wrong,” Robson said. “It’s not right. For your own self-serving purposes. This is America. This is land of the free, land of the free.”
“I do not feel free today,” Robson added. “I don’t know if the women behind me feel free today, so I am begging every member of Congress, every representative, to step up and choose the chaos. Choose the survivors, choose the children. Protect the children, all children. You protect all of us equally.”
Another survivor, Jena-Lisa Jones, also directly addressed Trump and criticized his administration’s handling of the Epstein matter.
“I beg you, President Trump, please stop making this political. It is not about you, President Trump. You are our president. Please start acting like it. Show some class, show some real leadership, show that you actually care about people other than yourself. I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment,” Jones said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva speaks during Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ “Arizona First” rally at El Rio Center on November 1, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) –Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was officially sworn in to the House on Wednesday — seven weeks after she won a special election, and just before the House is set to up Senate-passed legislation to reopen the government.
House Speaker Mike Johnson administered the oath of office, which prompted loud applause from Democrats.
Grijalva spoke on the House floor and immediately after that signed the discharge petition that would force a floor vote on compelling the Department of Justice to release the complete files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Our democracy only works when everyone has a voice,” Grijalva said.
“This includes the millions of people across the country who have experienced violence and exploitation, including Liz Stein and Jessica Michaels, both survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, they are here in the gallery with us this evening,” she said. “Thank you for being here.”
Grijalva called on lawmakers on Capitol Hill to do more to counter Trump.
“It’s past time for Congress to restore its role as a check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people,” she said. “We need to fight for our immigrant communities and veterans. We need to stand up for our public schools, children and educators. We need to respect tribal sovereignty and our environment, we need to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights, because that’s what the American people expect us to do: fight for them. That is why I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files.”
Grijalva’s election win was four days after Johnson dismissed lawmakers following House passage of the clean continuing resolution to fund the government in mid-September.
While the question has followed the speaker throughout the shutdown, Johnson had shrugged off the delay in Grijalva’s swearing-in, arguing that his decision was not about Grijalva’s intent to become the decisive signature on a discharge petition.
The state of Arizona sued the House of Representatives over the speaker’s decision to not swear in Grijalva during the government shutdown and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed their opposition to Johnson’s decision.
When could a vote on the Epstein files discharge petition occur?
After Grijalva signed the discharge petition, a procedural maneuver to bypass House leadership on forcing floor votes on legislation, it reached the necessary 218-vote threshold for a vote to be forced in the lower chamber.
The petition, led by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, now needs to “ripen” — meaning it will receive floor consideration after seven legislative days, according to House Rules. After that, any member who signed the petition can call up the measure and notify of an intention to offer a discharge motion on the floor.
So the earliest the House will hold a vote on the discharge petition is in early December after the chamber’s Thanksgiving recess.
The committee has released thousands of records related to Epstein, provided by the Department of Justice. Some of documents released by the committee include public court filings and transcripts from his associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, previously released flight logs from Epstein’s plane, already-public Bureau of Prisons communications the night of Epstein’s death and various other public court papers from Epstein’s criminal case in Florida. Maxwell has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.
(WASHINGTON) — Washington, D.C.’s top elected leaders on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump’s federal law enforcement surge has undermined public trust and threatened the city’s autonomy, even as they pressed Congress to help the District rebuild its police force and fill critical judicial vacancies.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Attorney General Brian Schwalb told the House Oversight Committee that while crime rates have fallen to 30-year lows, the city still needs long-term federal support, not armed National Guard patrols. All three leaders urged Congress to fund new facilities, confirm judges, and back efforts to restore the Metropolitan Police Department’s ranks to nearly 4,000 officers.
Both Mendelson and Schwalb criticized the effectiveness and legality of the federal surge.
“As the nation’s capital, public safety in the District has always required a strong working partnership with federal law enforcement, regardless of who is in the White House,” Schwalb said. “Declarations of emergency and unilateral federal actions, taken without coordination or advance warning, do not promote long-term public safety.”
“Sending masked agents in unmarked cars to pick people up off the streets; flooding our neighborhoods with armed national guardsmen untrained in local policing; attempting a federal takeover of our police force — none of these are durable, lasting solutions for driving down crime,” the D.C. attorney general added. “In fact, this threatens to destroy critical trust between local communities and police, which is essential to effective, efficient policing and prosecution.”
Mendelson called the emergency declaration “a manufactured crime crisis to justify an intrusion on the District’s autonomy.”
At a time when violent crime is at the lowest rate we’ve seen in 30 years, there is no federal emergency that the District needs the president to address,” he said, adding that National Guard troops lack law-enforcement training and have instead been “picking up trash and doing landscaping.”
Schwalb also pushed back against claims that juveniles offenders are not being prosecuted. He said his office brought charges in 84% of all violent youth cases last year, which included more than 90% of homicides, 87% of carjackings and 86% of gun cases.
All three officials urged Congress to help address longstanding vacancies on the D.C. courts and to fund a new psychiatric residential treatment facility for youth.
Marking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the U.S., Bowser said, “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the nation’s capital to be the safest and most beautiful it’s been at any point in its history, not just for our residents, but for the millions of Americans who will come to Washington, D.C., to celebrate our country’s heritage.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — FBI Director Kash Patel faced questions about the assassination of conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk last week — including details about a Discord chat group involving the alleged shooter — when he appeared before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.
In his appearance, his first in two days of hearings on Capitol Hill, Patel addressed his handling of the Kirk investigation — something he faced criticism for after he shared on social media at one point that a suspect was in custody, but then had to backtrack an hour and a half later.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin, a Democrat, slammed Patel during his opening remarks on Tuesday, saying Patel sparked “mass confusion” in his posts about Kirk’s killing. Patel stood by his performance, touting the fact that Kirk’s suspected shooter was caught in less than 36 hours.
Patel said he directed authorities to release the photo of the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, in the Kirk shooting. Kirk was killed in Utah on Wednesday and Robinson was apprehended after his father recognized him in photographs released by authorities, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said on Friday. His father told Robinson to turn himself in, with the 22-year-old initially saying no, but later changing his mind, officials said.
Patel contends this only happened because he ordered “against all law enforcement recommendations,” as he said on X on Saturday, the release of video and enhanced photos of the suspect.
“We cannot do our job without the American public and credible reporting in the media,” Patel said. “And that’s why Tyler Robinson is in custody today about to face charges.”
Patel addressed criticism that he has faced for how he handled the investigation on “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning.
“I was telling the world what the FBI was doing as we were doing it. I continue to do it. I challenge anyone out there to find a director who has been more transparent and more willing to work the media with high profile cases or any cases that the FBI [is] handling.”
The online messaging platform, Discord confirmed reports that about two hours before Robinson was taken into custody last week, the alleged shooter posted messages to a small group of friends on the platform that said, “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all … It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.”
Patel addressed the Discord message during the hearing, saying that the FBI is investigating “anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat” with Robinson. Patel said there are “a lot more” than 20 people linked to Robinson on Discord, “and we’re running them all down. … Every single one.”
“There are a number of individuals that are currently being investigated and interrogated, and a number yet to be investigated and interrogated, specific to that chat room. So we are very much in our ongoing posture of investigation,” Patel said, adding that other people could be involved in the shooting.
President Donald Trump appears to be standing behind Patel. Asked for his thoughts on Patel’s performance so far Tuesday morning, Trump said he supports Patel and that he has “confidence in everyone in the administration.”
The Epstein investigation
Patel is facing questions on a host of other issues while he has been at the helm of the FBI, including the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The Trump administration has been dealing with blowback it received from MAGA supporters for its decision to not release more materials related to the investigation into Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019.
Epstein, whose private island estate was in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has long been rumored to have kept a “client list” of celebrities and politicians, which right-wing influencers have baselessly accused authorities of hiding.
The Justice Department and FBI announced in July that they had found no evidence that Epstein kept a client list after several top officials like Patel, before joining the administration, had themselves accused the government of shielding information regarding the case.
Patel squarely blamed former U.S. Attorney and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who initially oversaw the Epstein investigation. Acosta resigned amid controversy over his role in a 2008 plea deal with Epstein and defended his decision, saying his goal “was straightforward” and included putting Epstein behind bars.
“I’m here to testify that the original sin in the Epstein case was the way it was initially brought by Mr. Acosta back in 2006. The original case involved a very limited search warrant, or set of search warrants, and didn’t take as much investigatory material it should have seized,” Patel said. “If I were the FBI director, then it wouldn’t have happened.”
Patel testified that Epstein was not an FBI informant as some have claimed.
Shouting match between Booker, Patel
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker and Patel engaged in a shouting match over Booker accusing Patel of making the country less safe.
“I believe you have made our country weaker and less safe,” Booker told Patel, before detailing what he perceived as Patel’s failures as the FBI’s leader, including the ouster of several top FBI leaders without explanation.
“That rant of false information does not bring this country together,” Patel shot back at Booker.
The two men shouted over each other until Chair Chuck Grassley intervened and allowed Patel to respond.
Sen. Ted Cruz, who spoke next, quipped: “It used to be that to see theater you had to go to the Kennedy Center, now apparently you need only go to the Senate Judiciary Committee and see our Senate Democrats berating the director the FBI.”
ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
