“If I said I’m signing my daughter up for a self-defense class, no one would blink at that. When the larger question is, why do you have to do that? Why have we decided that that is a normalized part of what it is to be a girl, to be a woman?”

Pressley Recently Unveiled First-Of-Its-Kind Legislation to Establish Financial Relief for Epstein Survivors and Survivors of Sexual Violence

As a Survivor of Sexual Abuse, Pressley Has Led Calls for Accountability, Highlighted Economic & Emotional Harm Borne by Survivors, Including Epstein Survivors

Interview Audio (YouTube) | Survivors’ Rights Restitution Act

BOSTON – During a radio interview on SiriusXM’s Mornings with Zerlina, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) shared her reflections on the Cornell case and underscored her unwavering support for survivors of sexual violence, reaffirming her commitment to fight for survivors’ healing, accountability, and restitution including through her Survivors Rights’ Restitution Act. Rep. Pressley also spoke about the urgent need for a cultural and systemic overhaul of our social norms and legal system to put an end to the normalization of sexual harassment and violence.

“If I said I’m signing my daughter up for a self-defense class, no one would blink at that. When the larger question is, why do you have to do that? Why have we decided that that is a normalized part of what it is to be a girl, to be a woman? That this is just a conflated part of our experience. That at some point you will experience sexual harassment. That at some point you may have to fend off someone?” Rep. Pressley shared in the interview.

“How do you shift culture? You shift behaviors? How do you shift behaviors? You know, it is fostering empathy. It is education. It is awareness. It’s tools. I think it’s you know it’s creating safe space, you know, for hard conversations. But if you are an adult proximate to any child, if you are a community mother, father, uncle, auntie, you know, in some sort of caregiving or parental role by blood or by bond—you are a child’s first teacher. And so yes, there is a responsibility that we have in government and working with, you know, advocates and nonprofits and things like that to educate. But you need to be having those conversations, and there are tools available to help you navigate that. But you need to be having those conversations about consent with your children, you know, any child that you have any connection to. That’s how we shift culture,” the Congresswoman continued.

As a survivor of sexual abuse herself, Congresswoman Pressley has been a dedicated advocate for survivors’ justice her entire life, as a Boston City Councilor, and as a member of Congress. She recently discussed the long-lasting economic and emotional harms that survivors, including Epstein survivors, continue to carry while rarely seeing meaningful accountability.

“I should say, you know, as a survivor of a near decade of intra-family childhood sexual abuse and also campus sexual assault, I’ve been in Congress now since 2018, but prior to that, I served on the Boston City Council, and this is where my work in this space really began in terms of the work of survivors’ justice. Because it still accounted for the number one reason—rape on college campuses—why girls were dropping out. There was this constant, who’s responsible for the oversight and pursuing justice and accountability—is it campus police? Is it local jurisdictions?

“You know, and so survivors and victim-survivors were this political pawn, this football, and their lives were hanging in limbo. And I know for myself, the work that I’m doing in fighting for restitution for survivors, particularly who have had their federal rights violated or experienced neglect in the way that the Epstein survivors have. “This is a life-altering experience. It is a life sentence. The harm is incalculable. That being said, while we have focused on the physical harm and the psychological and emotional toll, what often gets lost in that is the economic toll,” Rep. Pressley said in the interview.

“So when I wake up every day, I just wake up that much more resolved to do the work of restitution for survivors, justice and healing, and to do whatever I can to undo or to change who we have become culturally when it comes to rape, rape culture, and rape in every way. Rape is a tool of war. It is just systemic.”

Last month, Congresswoman Pressley introduced the Survivors’ Rights Restitution Act, first-of-its-kind legislation that would create a restitution fund in the judicial branch for survivors of sexual violence whose rights were violated by the federal government, including all survivors of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Congresswoman Pressley announced this historic proposal alongside survivors and survivors’ rights advocates at a press conference on Capitol Hill.

Text of the bill can be accessed here and a bill summary is available here. Video from the press conference can be accessed here, and photos can be accessed here.

A transcript of Congresswoman Pressley interview in Mornings with Zerlina is available below and the audio is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Speaks Out on Cornell Case, Reaffirms Support for Survivors of Sexual Violence

Mornings with Zerlina Interview
October 1, 2026

ZERLINA MAXWELL: Welcome back to Mornings with Zerlina. Back with us, one of our favorite guests on the show—Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, represents the seventh district in the great state of Massachusetts. Good morning, Congresswoman. Thank you so much for being back with us.

REP. PRESSLEY: Good morning, Zerlina. No matter the state of the world, it is always a joy to be with you. Thank you.

ZERLINA: I concur, and it’s one of those weeks where every single day, I’ve been waking up and sort of checking in with myself because when the news cycle is the way it is, and you are a survivor of sexual assault, you have to brace yourself for being triggered and for this whole national conversation to be happening in the wake of what happened at Cornell. So, my first question is really, how are you doing, and what are you, what are some of the things you’re thinking through as this story has become now a national story?

REP. PRESSLEY: Well, first, I hope you are doing okay, and I thank you for, you know, beginning with that prompt. I’m, you know, I would say I’m, I’m focused. I mean, certainly it’s heartbreaking and devastating.

But rape culture is real, and I think more of what I experience is that I am always surprised at the level of shock registered by people. It’s one thing to be, you know, shocked by the depravity of the action, the evil and the vileness of it all, which we should be. We should never become desensitized or numb to that.

But you know, until there is a complete, you know, cultural and systemic overhaul, both of our norms and our justice system, these things will persist.

ZERLINA: You use the term rape culture, which I think is really important to define for everybody, and also to unpack because we definitely do live in a culture where sexual assault, sexual harassment, is normalized, and there is plenty of evidence of that, including who is in the White House.

REP. PRESSLEY: Absolutely, who’s in the White House. You know, who I’m working, you know, daily to hold accountable from Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein to what’s happening on our college campuses.

I should say, you know, as a survivor of a near decade of intra-family childhood sexual abuse and also campus sexual assault, I’ve been in Congress now since 2018, but prior to that, I served on the Boston City Council, and this is where my work in this space really began in terms of the work of survivors’ justice. Because it still accounted for the number one reason—rape on college campuses—why girls were dropping out. And, you know, there was this constant who’s responsible for the oversight and pursuing justice and accountability—is it campus police? Is it local jurisdictions?

You know, and so survivors and victim-survivors were, you know, this political pawn, this football, and their lives were hanging in limbo. And I know for myself, the work that I’m doing in fighting for restitution for survivors, particularly who have had their federal rights violated or experienced neglect in the way that the Epstein survivors have.

This is a life-altering experience. It is a life sentence. The harm is incalculable. That being said, while we have focused on the physical harm and the psychological and emotional toll, what often gets lost in that is the economic toll.

I remember while a student in college, on the heels of my sexual assault, many days I just could not function. I missed days at work, and I wasn’t working for enrichment or a resume. My household, my family needed that money. I missed days in class. I was not excelling academically at all because I was afraid to run into my perpetrator. And I was also triggered because, again, I was a survivor of a near decade of interfamily childhood sexual abuse. So it was compounding, you know, all of that trauma. It is nearly impossible to resume any kind of normalcy.

But the point is, the Center for Disease Control puts at a baseline that the average victim-survivor of sexual assault—you’re talking about $122,000 at a minimum. You know, mental behavior health services, impact on your total health, lost wages, losing jobs, losing housing.

So when I wake up every day, I just wake up that much more resolved to do the work of restitution for survivors, justice, and healing, and to do whatever I can to undo or to change who we have become culturally when it comes to rape, rape culture, and rape in every way. Rape as a tool of war. It is just systemic.

ZERLINA: One of the things that you said that I think is really really important is that the person who comes forward with their story about sexual assault—they have to survive the sexual assault, and then they have to survive the victim blaming and the reactions of everyone, and the failure of prosecutors or their university or their community to take their allegation seriously, and then you know follow the law. I mean, you’ve talked about survivors being harmed twice.

Talk a bit more about the ways in which we need to, as institutions and as communities, listen to the survivors and believe them. Because again, we’re not the judge and jury, right? Like I think that there’s this cultural shift that needs to happen even before we change the laws.

I mean, it’s important, the Survivors Restitution Act, absolutely. But we also need to have a deeper cultural conversation too about how we are responding as a community when somebody comes forward to this type of allegation.

REP. PRESSLEY: Absolutely, Zerlina. And to that end, I do just want to take a moment on the Cornell case specifically to just show this is an incredible example of the necessity and the power of the free press. I want to just acknowledge, you know, at a moment where we have an administration that is working actively to push lies and propaganda and to attack the free press, this is an example of why truth in journalism is so important.

Secondly, yes, it does, it is another violation that victim-survivors experience. You are not believed. You are blamed. I’ve told the story many times that despite the many third rail issues that people see me championing, the first time I ever received death threats was when I revealed my campus sexual assault. You know, as a sitting, you know, municipal elected, it was the first time I ever received death threats.

And then on top of that, so not you’re you know you’re not believed, you’re victim blamed, justice usually evades you, and then if there is a process for some sort of restitution or justice to pursue, you’re usually violated all over again because it is such an onerous process that you are navigating that is not being led by people that are usually trauma informed.

And so that’s why, you know, for my Survivors Restitution Act for this panel of adjudicators that would determine eligibility. That is one of our criteria: is that these are people that are trauma-informed.

I do want to just say this is so important, and thank you for the opportunity, Zerlina, for survivors and our loved ones. I just want to ensure that you have the immediate support you need and the resources that are available to you.

So, just you know, you can call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline, which is 1-800-656-4673. The National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233. And if you’re in Massachusetts, you can reach out to the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Hotline, as well as the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance and SafeLink. Just want to say that to any survivors listening.

ZERLINA: The other thing that you mentioned, and we’re talking about all of this in the context of who’s in the White House, but also the Epstein files and all of the Epstein files being released into the public domain, and no one in the United States losing their job or being the subject to an investigation—any of the people in power that were literally in these emails.

And when I think about the fact that it’s not just the alleged seven individuals that are part of this civil complaint, but the 57 individuals—including the seven that were in this group chat. And I think about how the group chat and the Epstein files and the Epstein emails and everybody, you know, having these conversations where everybody knows what they’re talking about allegedly—that speaks to the larger problem that we have to, I don’t know, get to the bottom of.

And that’s not something we can achieve through legislation, but by people who are in positions of power using their platforms to speak to the next generation of men and young men, and so how can we create this space to have that conversation? I mean, in the Obama era, they were running PSAs about consent, and I feel like that was such a long time ago.

REP. PRESSLEY: Yeah, no, I agree with you. I again, like on the issue of domestic violence, I would every year host something on White Ribbon Day, specifically just to enlist men, you know, in this work, and a lot of that work was happening on college campuses.

So I do think those are you know revenue neutral you know things that we can be doing. I mean, how do you shift culture? You shift behaviors? How do you shift behaviors? You know, it is fostering empathy. It is education. It is awareness. It’s tools. I think it’s you know it’s creating safe space, you know, for hard conversations.

But you know, if you are an adult proximate to any child, if you are a community mother, father, uncle, auntie, you know, in some sort of caregiving or parental role by blood or by bond—you are a child’s first teacher.

And so yes, there is a responsibility that we have in government and working with you know advocates and nonprofits and things like that to educate. But you need to be having those conversations, and there are tools available to help you navigate that. But you need to be having those conversations about consent with your children, you know any child that you have any connection to. That’s how we shift culture.

I would also say, Zerlina, that in the same way that I talk about my work to combat and root out and expose anti-Blackness, again the suffering, you know, of Black people around the globe—in many ways, is so normalized that it is almost unremarkable to people.

So you know, no one’s shocked if you say, you know, my husband was being surveyed, you know, and was targeted and experienced racial profiling at a traffic stop, you know—it’s like no one’s outraged by that because that has become a normalized, conflated part of our experience in America, right? Same reason why we talked previously in my work in Haiti that people could be very affected by the images coming out of Ukraine, but not feel similarly about Haiti, right?

So the same is true for girls and women. If I said I’m signing my daughter up for a self-defense class, no one would blink at that. When the larger question is, why do you have to do that? Why have we decided that that is an that that is a normalized part of what it is to be a girl, to be a woman.

That this is just a conflated part of our experience. That at some point you will experience sexual harassment. That at some point you may have to fend off someone. And the monsters, you know, are not usually someone lurking in a bush pouncing on you. It’s someone you know that you know, maybe someone even that you love.

So that is, those are the deeper things that we need to get at. You know why is that acceptable? Why is it okay that women in this country, you know, can’t access health care to save their life, you know, it’s like it’s just such a…So those are, those are the deeper issues that we have to get at, you know, because it’s unacceptable.

I don’t want—my daughter is an 18-year-old college freshman right now, you know, and the fact that the questions that we had to ask ourselves as parents, you know, even in determining what state she would go to school in. And what—and I want to say this about the schools, Zerlina—you know, they never want this stuff out because they don’t want someone to be less inclined to send their child, you know, to a school, and so they suppress, you know, a lot of not just the data, you know, you just you don’t know.

But so we’ve got some culture work we have to do. But in the meantime, I’m out here going hard in the paint for survivors’ restitution, justice, and healing, and pushing for accountability on the Oversight Committee every day.

ZERLINA: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Democratic Representative for the Seventh District in Massachusetts, where my alma mater, Tufts University, is located I should mention. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. It’s always a pleasure to chat with you.

REP. PRESSLEY: Thank you.

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As a survivor of sexual abuse herself, Congresswoman Pressley has led Democrats on the House Oversight Committee calling for a full, public Oversight hearing to prioritize the individuals who survived the horrific abuse perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their associates, and whose firsthand accounts may not be sufficiently represented in the Department of Justice’s records.

Rep. Pressley has led the demand for a hearing with survivors as the Committee has continued its investigation and after the Congresswoman successfully helped pass a motion by Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Congresswoman Summer Lee to force the Committee to subpoena the Epstein files.

In May 2026, Congresswoman Pressley and House Oversight Committee Democrats held a field hearing in Palm Beach on the Epstein investigation and centering survivors’ experience. Rep. Pressley discussed the long-lasting economic and emotional harms that survivors continue to carry while rarely seeing meaningful accountability. Following the hearing, Rep. Pressley made an impassioned call for accountability, healing, and restorative justice for survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse.

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

Throughout her time in Congress, serving on the Boston City Council, and her entire life, Rep. Pressley has been a champion for justice for survivors of sexual violence and reproductive freedom.

• In May 2026, Pressley and House Oversight Committee Democrats held a field hearing in Palm Beach on the Epstein investigation. Rep. Pressley discussed the long-lasting economic and emotional harms that survivors continue to carry while rarely seeing meaningful accountability. Following the hearing, Rep. Pressley made an impassioned call for accountability, healing, and restorative justice for survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse.
• In April 2026, Pressley joined Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Oversight Democrats in filing a resolution to hold former Attorney General Pam Bondi in civil contempt of Congress after she failed to appear for her legally-binding, bipartisan subpoena to be deposed on the Epstein investigation and the White House’s cover-up of the Epstein files. Less than an hour later, Republicans announced a date for Bondi’s appearance before the committee.
• In April 2026, Pressley issued a statement after First Lady Melania Trump echoed Congresswoman Pressley’s longstanding calls for a Congressional hearing that centers survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. 
• In March 2026, Pressley delivered an impassioned speech for survivors of sexual violence and trauma—including for activists with the farm workers’ movement, including Dolores Huerta, who shared their stories publicly earlier this month.
• In February 2026, 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.
• In December 2025, Pressley condemned the Trump Admin after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that the Department of Justice will fail to release all of the Epstein files to the public by the legal deadline set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law that was forced through by House Democrats and signed into law by President Trump in November.
• In November 2025, Pressley applauded the House vote to release the Epstein files and renewed her push for Congressional action and accountability.
• In September 2025, Pressley held a media availability with Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Committee Democrats following a closed-door Oversight Committee roundtable with survivors of unconscionable exploitation and abuse perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their co-conspirators.
• In September 2025, in response to pressure from Rep. Pressley, the House Oversight Committee held a closed-door roundtable with survivors of the unconscionable exploitation by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their co-conspirators.
• In August 2025, Pressley reintroduced the Protections and Transparency in the Workplace Act to combat sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
• In August 2025, Pressley 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.
• In August 2025, Pressley issued a statement after Chairman James Comer issued a subpoena to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release files relating to child sex trafficker and Trump’s longtime friend Jeffrey Epstein. This action came 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.
• In July 2025, Pressley in an interview described why her work to subpoena the Epstein files is deeply personal to her.
• In July 2025, Pressley joined the successful effort to pass a motion by Congresswoman Summer Lee and Ranking Member Robert Garcia to force the Committee to subpoena the Epstein files.
• 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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