US: Survivors grapple with mixed emotions over release of Epstein files

Women who survived the abuse of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are grappling with a mix of emotions after United States President Donald Trump signed the bill requiring the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to the case.

Some survivors are concerned about this sudden political turnaround and the potential for manipulation.  

Despite these fears, they remain hopeful for a public reckoning and a step toward healing. 

"I felt so many different emotions when not only the Senate passed the bill, but then when Donald Trump actually signed it, it was so long overdue," said Epstein survivor Haley Robson.

"And I think in that moment I was so happy and so hopeful, but a part of me was also like, okay, what's the catch?" she added. 

Both the House of Representatives and Senate passed the bill this week with overwhelming margins after Trump reversed course on his monthslong opposition to the bill and indicated he would sign it.

The bill requires the Justice Department (DOJ) to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in a federal prison in 2019, within 30 days.

It allows for redactions about Epstein’s victims for ongoing federal investigations, but DOJ cannot withhold information due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.”

It isn't clear yet how much new information will be in the files, gathered over two decades of investigations into Epstein's sexual abuse of many girls and women.

Some of his accusers expect the files to help clarify their personal experiences, which are sometimes muddled by the pain they endured. 

Marina Lacerda says she was just 14 when Epstein started sexually abusing her at his New York mansion, but she struggles to recall much of what happened because it is such a dark period in her life.

“I was just a child and it’s just trauma. That’s what trauma does to your brain,” said Lacerda, now 37.

A long-time MAGA demand

It has long been established that Trump had been friends with Epstein, the disgraced financier who was close to the world’s elite. But the president has consistently said he did not know of Epstein’s crimes and had cut ties with him long ago.

"We deserve the transparency, we deserve the honesty, we deserve the clarity, and we deserve the public to be able to see both sides of what happened and right now it's very one sided as it has been for a very long time," said Haley Robson.

Before Trump returned to the White House for a second term, some of his closest political allies helped fuel conspiracy theories about the government’s handling of the Epstein case, asserting a cover-up of potentially incriminating information in those files.

The release of the Epstein files was a long-time demand of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base. 

The US president initially resisted efforts to publish the documents but eventually bowed to political pressure from his own party once it became clear that congressional action was inevitable.