Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
“You were failed by so many powerful people that could have protected your childhood. You were failed by a government that ignored your cries for decades, truly an institutional betrayal.”
“These powerful abusers have been protected by institutions that are more concerned with the wealthy and well-connected than centering survivors.”
As a Survivor of Sexual Abuse, Pressley Has Led Efforts in Congress to Center Survivors
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley joined survivors of Epstein’s abuse and members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus to demand transparency, accountability, and healing for survivors. Rep. Pressley condemned the botched, partial release of the Epstein files by Trump’s Department of Justice that exposed the identities of survivors while redacting alleged abusers’ names.
A transcript of Congresswoman Pressley’s remarks at the press conference is available below, and the video is available here.
Transcript: Pressley Joins Epstein Survivors to Demand Transparency, Accountability, Slams Trump DOJ for Protecting Abusers
U.S. Capitol
February 11, 2026
Who were just before us are grown women. But it’s not hard for me when I look at them to see a 17-year-old, a 16-year-old, a 15-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 9-year-old.
We’re talking about children who were groomed, preyed upon, exploited, raped, trafficked.
Dreams permanently deferred, bodies violated, and spirits permanently bruised.
In Virginia’s book, Nobody’s Girl, it’s titled that because she felt she belonged to no one, that no one cared. These survivors have been used, abused, and discarded.
Jeffrey Epstein can rot in hell, and Ghislaine Maxwell can follow suit.
And all of those co-conspirators and accomplices deserve to be named and shamed. Because, as Virginia once said, “If we don’t know who they are, the monsters are still out there, harming people.”
So I thank you for being here today. This is a season of calling a thing a thing, so I have to be direct.
Survivors gathered here today. I’m so grateful for their courage and leadership, and equally devastated and furious about what they have endured.
You were failed by so many powerful people that could have protected your childhood. You were failed by a government that ignored your cries for decades, truly an institutional betrayal.
We are fighting with every bone in our bodies for you.
The files that have been released have further detailed a vivid picture of depraved behavior and dehumanization, violent violations, hurt and harm no person – no person, no child – should ever endure.
It is an abuse and harm that changes you on a cellular level for the rest of your life. It is a lifetime sentence.
And together, we are fighting for every survivor, carrying visible and invisible scars, burdened by shame.
Let me be clear, the shame is not yours to carry. Shame on the people that abuse you. Shame on the government that failed you. The shame is not yours to carry.
And we must meet your courage with real action.
And again, although I know our survivors have left to take their seats at the Judiciary hearing, I’m speaking to all the Epstein survivors, but to all survivors for whom the Epstein survivors are a proxy for.
This moment requires that we meet their courage with real action.
These powerful abusers have been protected by institutions that are more concerned with the wealthy and well-connected than centering survivors.
The Department of Justice must continue to release files, and they must correct course.
As we’ve demanded from the beginning, the identities of survivors in these files must be redacted and protected, and this can’t end with the release of the files.
We must see thorough investigations followed by swift accountability for all that enabled and incited this abuse.
Words are important, but actions are what matter now, and that’s why we will not yield.
Thank you for being here today and our work continues.