Several women who survived abuse by Jeffrey Epstein have come together for a public service announcement video demanding that Congress release all files on the accused sex trafficker.
“It’s a call to action,” one of the women, Danielle Bensky, told NBC News on Sunday. “While we are Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell survivors, we are standing for so many victims of sexual assault and of domestic violence, as well.”
The PSA, produced by World Without Exploitation, directs the public to a link to send automated letters of support to their congressional leaders. It comes ahead of Tuesday’s highly anticipated House vote on releasing those files.
“Many people scroll and they see our stories, and they want to find a way to advocate, and they’re not really sure how,” Bensky said. “We really want to tell people that you can get out there and you can do this for yourself and be a part of what’s starting to really feel like a movement, in a way.”
The video features several women holding photos of their younger selves at the ages they met Epstein, the prominent late financier who lived in wealthy and politically connected circles.
“There’s about a thousand of us,” a woman says in the video. “It’s time to bring the secrets out of the shadows.”
Danielle Bensky, one of women who has said she survived abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, speaks to Hallie Jackson about a new PSA demanding the release of the Epstein files Sunday in Washington.NBC News
Epstein survivor Annie Farmer, whose sister Maria Farmer was the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Epstein, in 1996, stressed the release of the files is not a political issue but one that has been buried too long.
“Please remember that these are crimes that were committed against real humans, real individuals. This is not a political issue. This, this has been going on for decades,” Annie Farmer said. “My sister Maria Farmer reported this under the Clinton’s administration, right? There have been mistakes that were made in this case under the Bush administration. So many things have happened over the decades that were law enforcement failures in this case.
“This is not partisan. We’re asking for you to stand with us now to release all of the files,” she continued.
Bensky has said she was 17 and a budding ballerina in 2004 when Epstein sexually abused her at his Manhattan mansion.
“When you look at how long this has spanned, we have to do something about it. And it really is not political. It’s never been political for us,” she said.
Annie Farmer speaks to Hallie Jackson about the new PSA on Sunday.
Both women were among a group of survivors who wrote a letter thanking Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for backing the effort to release the Epstein files in a dramatic split from her party line.
The women said that the tone of emails in a trove of Epstein-related documents lawmakers on the House Oversight and Reform Committee released last week didn’t shock them and that they hope it signals a new era of transparency.
“I think it’s the type of misogyny and classism and the tone of some of these emails that people were really disturbed by was, was something that we were all very aware of, was a part of this group and these types of conversations,” Farmer said. “I think that it was actually nice to see other people looking into that world and being disgusted by it.”
Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019 as he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Maxwell, his accomplice, was convicted in 2022 on federal sex trafficking charges and is reportedly seeking to have her prison sentence commuted.
While survivors have repeatedly stressed the Epstein case shouldn’t be politicized, it has been a political lightning rod on Capitol Hill.
President Donald Trump, who was mentioned in some of the released Epstein emails, directed the Justice Department on Friday to investigate Epstein’s involvement with financial institutions and political figures while taking aim at Democrats. Trump has denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
Janine Eduljee, Hayley Walker and Jennifer O’Neil contributed.
