Pressley is a Survivor of Sexual Abuse, Continues to Demand Transparency, Accountability, and Healing

Text of Letter (PDF)

BOSTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), a member of the House Oversight Committee and a survivor of sexual abuse, led committee Democrats in calling for a Congressional hearing to prioritize the individuals who survived the horrific abuse associated with  by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their associates, and whose firsthand accounts may not be sufficiently represented in the Department of Justice’s records.

The letter comes as the Committee moves forward with its investigation into Epstein, Maxwell, and their co-conspirators, and comes after Rep. Pressley successfully helped pass a motion by Congresswoman Summer Lee and Ranking Member Robert Garcia to force the Committee to subpoena the Epstein files.

“If we are to hold powerful people to account, our investigation must center the voices they tried to silence,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “To ensure that our investigation is comprehensive and credible, we urge the Committee to allow survivors the opportunity to provide their testimony if they wish to do so.”

In their letter to Chairman James Comer, Rep. Pressley and her colleagues detailed Epstein’s history exploiting and trafficking young women and girls, leaving them with deep, lasting trauma. The lawmakers argued that these individuals should have their stories heard and their healing centered in Congressional efforts to achieve transparency and accountability.

“If the Committee is to conduct credible oversight, it must hear directly from survivors, or their representatives, who volunteer to advance our investigation on their own terms,” the lawmakers continued. “Some survivors have expressed a clear willingness and desire to come before Congress, and the Committee cannot meet their strength and bravery with inaction.”

The lawmakers made the case that releasing the full, unredacted Epstein files will not tell the full story, and that hearing testimony from Maxwell, an unreliable and untrustworthy co-conspirator, while ignoring those who were abused, will only contribute to more pain for survivors and more misinformation for the public.

“For too long, powerful abusers and their enablers have been shielded by institutions more interested in protecting predators than centering survivors,” the lawmakers continued. “The Committee now has an opportunity to break that cycle. A public hearing focused on survivors who wish to speak out would be a meaningful step towards transparency, accountability, and healing.”

Joining Rep. Pressley in sending the letter are Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton, Stephen F. Lynch, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, Kweisi Mfume, Summer Lee, Greg Casar, Jasmine Crockett, Emily Randall, Suhas Subramanyam, Yassamin Ansari, Lateefah Simon, Dave Min, and Rashida Tlaib.

In a recent interview, Rep. Pressley described why her work to subpoena the Epstein files is deeply personal to her.

This week, Rep. Pressley issued a statement after Oversight Democrats forced Chairman James Comer to issue a subpoena to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release files relating to child sex trafficker and Trump’s longtime friend Jeffrey Epstein.

Throughout her time in Congress, Rep. Pressley has been a champion for justice for survivors of sexual violence and reproductive freedom.

In July 2024, Rep. Pressley reintroduced the Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination (BE HEARD) in the Workplace Act of 2024. In June 2024, Rep. Pressley renewed her calls for accountability and survivor-focused solutions following the damning reports of a toxic work environment at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).  In June 2024, Rep. Pressley also sent a letter to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) requesting information about the botched closure of FCI Dublin, abuse of women while they were being transferred to other facilities, and BOP’s management of investigations into the staff sexual misconduct and abuse at FCI Dublin and other federal BOP facilities.

Rep. Pressley is also a lead co-sponsor of H.R. 5388, legislation that would prevent the Secretary of Education from rolling back Title IX protections for survivors, as well as H.Res. 560, a resolution calling for an impeachment inquiry into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, following reporting on new allegations of sexual misconduct committed by the Associate Justice.

In April 2019, following the passage of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, Rep. Pressley issued a statement honoring her mother, Sandra Pressley, a survivor of domestic violence. Rep. Pressley is also the lead co-sponsor of an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that would establish the first-ever grant program dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, which passed the House of Representatives in March 2021.

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