{"id":22573,"date":"2026-05-12T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/house-oversight-dems-hear-from-epstein-victims-in-palm-beach-meeting\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:32:10","slug":"house-oversight-dems-hear-from-epstein-victims-in-palm-beach-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/house-oversight-dems-hear-from-epstein-victims-in-palm-beach-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"House Oversight Dems hear from Epstein victims in Palm Beach meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida \u2014 House Oversight Democrats heard Tuesday from victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach County, where many of the crimes took place.<\/p>\n

The so-called shadow hearing, an informal event with lawmakers, took place less than three miles away from the mansion where Epstein abused hundreds of girls, and in the same county where prosecutors negotiated to have the financier avoid federal charges or extended prison time almost 20 years ago, allowing for the abuse to continue.<\/p>\n

Much of Tuesday\u2019s forum focused on how victims and attorneys in the case didn\u2019t know the so-called sweetheart deal had been negotiated. They called for changes to the Crime Victim Rights Act to ensure victims know about these arrangements \u2014 and have standing to challenge them.<\/p>\n

Rep. Robert Garcia<\/a> of California, the panel\u2019s top Democrat, promised that if Democrats win the House in November, anyone involved in arranging the deal would be made to testify. He also said the committee would have more questions for Alex Acosta, the former prosecutor who brokered Epstein\u2019s plea deal and the secretary of Labor in Trump\u2019s first administration. Acosta resigned amid renewed scrutiny of the Epstein case.<\/p>\n

Witnesses additionally shared how they\u2019d been harmed during the last year, when all files related to the case were supposed to be released. Democrats claim millions of files are still being withheld despite Trump signing a bill<\/a> to make them public amid widespread pressure.<\/p>\n

And among files that were released, information on many victims was not adequately redacted. Victims at the event called for those harmed through the exposure to be compensated, and for co-conspirators of Epstein who still haven\u2019t been named to be \u201cheld accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The informal hearing comes amid pressure on the full Oversight Committee to host a forum with Epstein victims. First lady Melania Trump recently called on Congress to hold such a hearing, and Chair James Comer<\/a> (R-Ky.) has indicated he plans to. But no date has been set.<\/p>\n

At the end of the month, former Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to be questioned by the Oversight panel in a transcribed interview. Some victims offered their own questions for Bondi on Tuesday. For one, Jena-Lisa Jones accused the former attorney general of being unable to \u201ceven look at the survivors\u201d behind her in a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were willing to lose your job to cover up for these people,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat do they have on you, because I\u2019d like to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on Tuesday, House Oversight Democrats released an \u201cinterim staff analysis\u201d of the widely criticized plea deal. In the report, called \u201cThe Price of Non-Prosecution,\u201d the Democratic minority argued that the agreement \u201cenabled Epstein to continue his abuse and trafficking activities for almost another decade, shifting his focus to European and Central Asian women.\u201d Epstein was not arrested for sex trafficking of minors until 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite DOJ\u2019s claims to the contrary, the Committee\u2019s findings demonstrate the need for further law enforcement investigation of Epstein and his international network,\u201d the Democratic report states.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Leonard reported from West Palm Beach. Hailey Fuchs reported from Washington.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida \u2014 House Oversight Democrats heard Tuesday from victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach County, where many of the crimes took place. The so-called shadow hearing, an informal event with lawmakers, took place less than three miles away from the mansion where Epstein abused hundreds of girls, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}