Movement family — Thanks to our pressure in Congress, the House Oversight committee held a private roundtable with survivors of Epstein’s abuse earlier this week.

What we heard was harrowing, and it is proof of what has been an institutional, systemic betrayal for decades.

These women were preyed upon, groomed, exploited from as young as 13 years old — their bodies violated, their minds manipulated, and their dreams denied.

Jeffrey Epstein is dead, but the hurt and harm he caused is alive and well in the daily experiences of these survivors.

Ghislaine Maxwell is incarcerated, but it is these survivors who are still serving a life-sentence of trauma.

Aspiring artists, lawyers, actors — people who have big dreams — and those dreams have been dashed and denied because of the shame and trauma they carry.

They are deserving of transparency, of accountability, and of healing.

This roundtable was long overdue, it was very powerful, and many of the victims said it was the first time that they felt heard. I believe this was only the first step. That’s why I continue to call for:

A public Congressional hearing for these survivors
Their stories to be officially entered into Congressional Record
The release of the full, unredacted Epstein files with survivors’ privacy protected

The entire public needs to understand how systemic, how far and wide, and how deep this institutional betrayal goes.

And I will not shield powerful abusers. They must be taken to account, and that can only happen when we center the voices of survivors.

I ask my Republican colleagues too, to prove that they will break their legacy of shielding abusers like Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump, and now Jeffrey Epstein.

In the words of Edmund Burke, the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

This movement helped make this roundtable possible. We’re going to keep pushing for the healing, accountability, and transparency that these survivors deserve.

In solidarity,

Ayanna