Latest / Gil I Am / NBC NEWS...Epstein, Maxwell survivors and families speak out in exclusive interview

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NBC NEWS...Epstein, Maxwell survivors and families speak out in exclusive interview · Gil I Am

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Tonight.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: As you can see, just really within the last couple
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: of hours, I sat down exclusively with one of the
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: biggest group of survivors and their family members brought together
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: at the same time. Some of these people had never
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: met each other before, including a woman who has never
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: before come forward to share her story about the abuse
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: she says she faced at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I want to play for you now my conversation with
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: these individuals you're hearing for the very first time right
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: here on NBC News. Now a show of hands here
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: if you or somebody you love was abused or trafficked
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: by Jeffrey Epstein or Gallaine Maxwell, all of you. So
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: given that you are here together, the nine of you,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: in this room, in this what feels like a show
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: of solidarity, why why did you decide to come here today, Jess.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: I'm coming here because there's been a severe miscarriage of justice,
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: a delay in accountability, and we've all come together beautifully
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: and tragically, which feels healing and devastating all at the
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: same time, to speak out and to be fueled by
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: each other's voices in a way that I don't know
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: that we've had the opportunity to in the past.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Beautifully said I'm here for the same reasons. But for me,
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: the most important thing is accountability. My whole mission is
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: to get somebody or the majority of the people to
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: be held accountable for what they did and what we've
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: all been suffering through for the last fifteen twenty years.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Mareka, you're somebody who has spoken publicly about your experience before.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: What does it mean to you to be sitting alongside
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: eight other people in telling your story and in being.
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: Here I mean today.
• 1:54
  Speaker 6: I mean, I didn't think I would be here six
• 1:57
  Speaker 6: years later when I was here in twenty nineteen.
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: I guess I just like to.
• 2:03
  Speaker 6: Say that, you know, I'm sorry. It's always a bit
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: nerve racking to speak on camera like this, but I mean,
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: I'm you know, I just want to say that the
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: government has failed us. I mean, Maria Farmer reported this
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: in nineteen ninety six, and now there's depending law super
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: where hopefully there will be some accountability.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, General Lisa, how about you.
• 2:29
  Speaker 7: I'm here once again speaking our truth and kind of
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: beside myself that we're even having to do this again
• 2:39
  Speaker 7: because they never did what they should have done in
• 2:41
  Speaker 7: the beginning.
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: So now here we are having to.
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: Do interviews like this to get our voices out there
• 2:50
  Speaker 7: because they didn't just listen.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: To us the first time we said it.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: We must feel frustrating extremely.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: The idea of repeating having to do this again, at
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: it again.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Did you ever think you'd.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: Have to No?
• 3:04
  Speaker 7: I mean, in twenty nineteen, when I spoke up and
• 3:09
  Speaker 7: went public on what had happened to me in two
• 3:12
  Speaker 7: thousand and three at fourteen years old, was something that
• 3:16
  Speaker 7: I should have never had to have done in my life.
• 3:18
  Speaker 7: It should have been taken care of, care of and
• 3:21
  Speaker 7: handled from the beginning and been investigated properly to so
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: we wouldn't have had to be at this point. You know.
• 3:30
  Speaker 7: I should have never had to put my face on
• 3:32
  Speaker 7: camera so that someone would listen to me.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I want to first get to Sky and Amanda and Danny,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: who are here representing your sister Virginia Gufrey, Danny?
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: What message Sky?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: What message does it send to be here with this
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: group in this what as Liz described this almost show
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: of strength?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Sorry, she should be here.
• 4:04
  Speaker 8: I am so honored to be here with.
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: With you guys. She she would be here, she'd be screaming.
• 4:15
  Speaker 8: You know, and I think you know they said it best.
• 4:18
  Speaker 8: It's like if I could really say, what you know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 8: what we're looking for out of this is justice, looking
• 4:24
  Speaker 8: for accountability, and I think it's you know, we really
• 4:28
  Speaker 8: have to start questioning what do we stand for?
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: So you know, it means the world.
• 4:34
  Speaker 8: To be here with you, all of you, and you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 8: I think this is only the beginning of what's really
• 4:41
  Speaker 8: to come because showing a force like this, they have
• 4:45
  Speaker 8: to listen.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Now, some of you had not met before today.
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  Speaker 2: Am I read an understanding that this is your first
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: time to some of you meeting each other. No, that's okay.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: And Wendy, yeah, it could be. No, because this is
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: your first time. You have never before spoken publicly.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: About your experience.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Correct, I'm going to ask you to share some of
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: your experience. Now, what were your interactions with Jeffrey Epstein?
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: What can you tell.
• 5:12
  Speaker 9: Us my interactions? If you guys have followed or no,
• 5:18
  Speaker 9: Jenna's story. Jenna is my one of my best friends
• 5:22
  Speaker 9: from middle school, I would say, and it's pretty much
• 5:27
  Speaker 9: the same story and that aspect.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: How old were you?
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: I was fourteen?
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: And how did you first encounter either Jeffrey Epstein orderly
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Maxwell through friends.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: It was very normal, I guess tho friends?
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: And where were you? This was in Florida? Yes, And
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: did you go to the home in Palm Beach? Can
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: you tell me a little bit more about that?
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Uh? Yes, I went to the home in Palm Beach? Okay?
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: And what were you involved in there? What did he
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: ask you to do?
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: I'm not really comfortable answering that.
• 6:05
  Speaker 9: It's the same as if you follow the story, you
• 6:08
  Speaker 9: know what I was asked to do.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: How did you extract yourself from this abuse?
• 6:15
  Speaker 9: I moved very quickly, My family moved me out of Florida,
• 6:20
  Speaker 9: so I was I exited that world and had no
• 6:25
  Speaker 9: access to it, thankfully.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Then how did you cope with that trauma?
• 6:32
  Speaker 9: You just put it behind you and don't think about it.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Is that what you did?
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 6:40
  Speaker 9: Until it was brought up that, hey, this is a
• 6:42
  Speaker 9: big deal in twenty nineteen, I think this is a
• 6:49
  Speaker 9: real big deal and it's your truth. So here's what's happening.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: And it sounds like you almost very Jeffrey Stein's memory
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: his name absolutely And then all of a sudden, all
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: these years later, here it comes back into the public
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: spotlight again.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: We'll yeah for you.
• 7:08
  Speaker 9: It's so I had never really thought about it, I
• 7:13
  Speaker 9: guess because I just put it behind you, didn't talk
• 7:18
  Speaker 9: about it, didn't think about it, nothing, And it was
• 7:21
  Speaker 9: kind of like, Okay, now you have to heal from this.
• 7:26
  Speaker 9: Now you have to address it and face.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: It for the first time ever, like this is real.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: It's almost like you're in denial.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: Maybe No, I.
• 7:37
  Speaker 9: Just at that point, like I'm thirty, I had moved on,
• 7:43
  Speaker 9: I had a career, you know, a family, and now
• 7:48
  Speaker 9: it's like, okay, well it's the truth and it's my truth,
• 7:54
  Speaker 9: so it's time to start processing through that.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: At the time, did you tell any of your family
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: members what had happened to you with.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: Epstein at that time that No?
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: After did you no.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: When did you finally tell if you have to, I
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: assume at this point told family members.
• 8:11
  Speaker 9: Yes, okay, I told pretty much after everything was in.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Motion, meaning the cases in the investigation, and.
• 8:23
  Speaker 9: I had decided that I was going to pursue it,
• 8:26
  Speaker 9: so I had to come claim to people and be like, hey,
• 8:29
  Speaker 9: I did this, and I don't know what's going to happen,
• 8:33
  Speaker 9: but it is true.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Did you reach out to law enforcement at that point?
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: No, I was contacted.
• 8:44
  Speaker 9: Through yeah, through the puzzle pieces that they put together
• 8:49
  Speaker 9: to connect victims to victims to victims. I was on
• 8:52
  Speaker 9: the bulletin board somewhere.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: And here you are, all these years later, sitting in
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: this room with these other ways, with these other family members.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Why now, why are you deciding to speak and to
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: share your story now?
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: Because it's not.
• 9:08
  Speaker 9: Because not everybody is getting justice, and that's not right.
• 9:15
  Speaker 9: Just because you think that some victims in their mind
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  Speaker 9: got justice, that it's not right. The everyday person is
• 9:23
  Speaker 9: out there and that's me, and we're victims.
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: You could be you.
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  Speaker 9: Know, your neighbor could be a victim and you don't
• 9:30
  Speaker 9: know it. The person you pass in a grocery store
• 9:33
  Speaker 9: and they're not talking. And I think that, like she said,
• 9:37
  Speaker 9: power in numbers, even if I'm just counted as statistically
• 9:43
  Speaker 9: in numbers, as another victim, that's enough for me. They're
• 9:48
  Speaker 9: not by they're not protecting our youth. They're they're continuing
• 9:52
  Speaker 9: to allow the same thing that happened to us is
• 9:57
  Speaker 9: happening still. Maybe not with you know them, but it.
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: Happens, and it's happening.
• 10:03
  Speaker 9: So I took my time in saying something, and I've
• 10:08
  Speaker 9: always been in contact with Jenna. I had a young
• 10:13
  Speaker 9: daughter trying to start my career. It was a big
• 10:17
  Speaker 9: shock to my husband. So I took the time and
• 10:21
  Speaker 9: I said when I felt like.
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: I was ready.
• 10:26
  Speaker 9: You know, it's not a secret, it's just something that
• 10:28
  Speaker 9: I didn't normally talk about. So now I'm ready to say.
• 10:34
  Speaker 9: You know what, if I am the everyday Joe Schmo
• 10:40
  Speaker 9: and I have this story, I want to be able
• 10:43
  Speaker 9: to inspire other people to say, hey, me too. I mean,
• 10:48
  Speaker 9: I hate I don't want to say that me too.
• 10:50
  Speaker 9: Not trying to do that, but it happened to me too.
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  Speaker 9: And I want to support her. She's been doing all
• 10:58
  Speaker 9: this for years alone and she doesn't deserve to do
• 11:02
  Speaker 9: it alone.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: And I know that that's emotional for you. I can
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: see it, and it's also emotional.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 11:10
  Speaker 9: I haven't met them today, but going through stuff like this,
• 11:16
  Speaker 9: especially as an adult, it brings up a lot of
• 11:18
  Speaker 9: mental health issues. And I've thought of hurting myself and
• 11:25
  Speaker 9: not now, but you know, over the last six or
• 11:28
  Speaker 9: so years just going through all this, and it's hard.
• 11:33
  Speaker 9: And I know that if I have those thoughts in
• 11:35
  Speaker 9: Virginia has those thoughts and where victims. You know, how
• 11:39
  Speaker 9: many more of us do we.
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: Have to lose?
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Why do you want to see more of these documents
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: released publicly?
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Accountability?
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: Right?
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  Speaker 10: I think all this time we've forgotten how large of
• 11:53
  Speaker 10: a scale this really is. What Virginia did, what these
• 11:57
  Speaker 10: women did, It's unprecedented.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: This was a global operation.
• 12:03
  Speaker 10: It takes multiple people to make this happen over a
• 12:07
  Speaker 10: span of decades. Those people deserve to be accountable to Okay,
• 12:12
  Speaker 10: and they have that information.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: They have that.
• 12:14
  Speaker 10: Information, they have the power to do the right thing,
• 12:18
  Speaker 10: and that is.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: What we're here for. Are you all satisfied? And then
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: I'll do a couple more show of fans? But are
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: you all satisfied generally with the level of communication that
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: you've had or that your representatives have had for members
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: of Congress? Do you feel like your voices have been
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: heard from members of Congress?
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: No?
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: No, Jess, you're giving me a face. You're saying, no way,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: my eyebrows don't lie.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Uh No, I've had I've heard zero, zero communication.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know about anything.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: I've heard nothing from any representatives personally.
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: I don't I have not.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: So can I get a show of fans who here
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: is satisfied with the level of contact they've had from Congress.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Nobody, let me do Let me ask this. How about
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: the Justice Department?
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: I want to ask a couple of things about what
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: you knew about things that were happening with this case
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: that you're obviously involved with.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Show of hands.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Did any of you hear from the Justice Department before
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: they released that memo, that two page memo.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Earlier this summer.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: No hands, Where any of you told that Todd Blanche
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: would be speaking with Gilla Maxwell prior to that interview.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Over the course of two days. No.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: No, were any of you told about the prison transfer
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: that doing that.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: No where any of.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: You do any of you feel that the DJ has
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: communicated with you enough this year? No, have any of
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: you had any communication with the DJ. No, nobody in
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: this room has heard at all from the Department of Justice.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: No. No, is that surprising to you. No, No, it
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: should be. It should Yeah, it should be.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: Even think it's their job.
• 13:52
  Speaker 10: This is the center of this whole entire case. They
• 13:55
  Speaker 10: are the center. Why would you, Glenn, Well, let's get
• 14:01
  Speaker 10: this right before the narrative changes. And I believe that
• 14:06
  Speaker 10: so strongly that that is the intent of her. She's
• 14:09
  Speaker 10: trying to rewrite history, and it was almost like she
• 14:12
  Speaker 10: was given that platform to do that, and that is
• 14:15
  Speaker 10: not acceptable on any terms. She wasn't just this co
• 14:22
  Speaker 10: conspirator and that was her boyfriend. She was actively participant.
• 14:28
  Speaker 10: She preyed upon these young girls, and she used her
• 14:31
  Speaker 10: womanhood to do it.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, okay, Virginia said it.
• 14:35
  Speaker 10: She was a vicious, she was a monster. She doesn't
• 14:41
  Speaker 10: deserve any type of platform.
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: Or yoga and pilates.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: That's a reference to the prison camp she's now in.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's absurd.
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: It's absurd.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: What's happening?
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Because I have to ask you what did you think
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: when you heard about let me start with the interview
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: the Deputy Attorney General, the Todd Blanche conducted over the
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: course of a couple of days with Gillay Maxwell. When
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: you heard that was being done, when you saw that transcript,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: when you heard her voice in that audio, what was
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: that like for you?
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I hope that I'm.
• 15:12
  Speaker 11: Speaking for all of us and saying we are willing
• 15:15
  Speaker 11: to do whatever we need to to find justice, and
• 15:22
  Speaker 11: we're willing to.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: Talk about what happened to us.
• 15:25
  Speaker 11: So that the public knows what the truth is and
• 15:30
  Speaker 11: not the lies of someone who was convicted of this crime,
• 15:34
  Speaker 11: whose freedom is being held in the balance, and who
• 15:40
  Speaker 11: has their own motives to both protect others and protect herself.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: And Lisa, to you as somebody who attended Gillay Maxwell's trial, or.
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: At least parts of it, Yes, I did.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: The interview, the release of that audio, the prison transfer.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: What did you make of all that as it was
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: happening over the course of the summer.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: I was just disgusted by it, just like she said,
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: she was an abuser. There was one point when Jeffrey
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: had called me to go meet with her after I
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: had met her at a function at a charity event.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, thank god I didn't go. But just the
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: climate in New York at that time, everybody knew that
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: she was working with him or had something that wasn't
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: right with her, And so much has come out since
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: then that we know, you know, her great involvement. I
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: mean some even say that she was the one that
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: was the mastermind of a lot of it. I'm not
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: sure about that, but regardless.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: She is the abuser.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: And why are we so concerned with how she feels
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: about things and her opinions about Trump or anybody else.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: She's a convicted fellain, and so we need to move
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: on from you know, highlighting her as someone that we
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: should be listening to.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: So what would you say to the Department of Justice
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: as they were pursuing these conversations with her.
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: They have emails, they have flight logs, they have a
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: list they've compiled, right, and I feel like if they're
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: not going to release this list to the public that
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: everybody wants to see, we want to know who it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Is a lot of us survivors.
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: No, we've been compiling.
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: List of our own, and we have so many other survivors.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: Please come forward, you know, and we'll compile our own
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: list and seek justice for you.
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: On our own.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think that's what's going to happen next.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Are there other prominent individuals that you saw when you
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: were with Jeffrey Epstein and others who you think should
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: be followed up on by law enforcement.
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: Well, let me get this straight. Jeffrey wasn't doing this
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: for himself. I mean, let's not be around the bush,
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: the parties, the charity events on the island, everyone that
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: he was involved with. Not everybody, because obviously the people
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: that didn't. There were people that didn't know about what
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: he was doing, but there were many people that knew
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: what he was doing that were evolved in the sex
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: trafficking ring.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Your sister described Gilaene Maxwell as more evil than Jeffrey Epstein.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: That was something that she said publicly. Yes, And so
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I have to ask.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: In the context of what is also in the ether
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: at the moment, this idea of a potential pardon for
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Gilaine Maxwell, how would you feel if she were to
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: be pardoned, given your sister's comments about Maxwell.
• 18:33
  Speaker 12: I think it's I think it's the biggest slap in
• 18:36
  Speaker 12: the face for us as a family and to these
• 18:39
  Speaker 12: girls and anybody that's been impacted by her.
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: I think that.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I don't think twenty years is not you're referring to
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: her sentence.
• 18:49
  Speaker 12: Yeah, I think that people that are able to put
• 18:54
  Speaker 12: that kind of evil out into the world should be
• 18:57
  Speaker 12: either locked away forever. You know. The our justice system,
• 19:04
  Speaker 12: I think is not harsh enough on something of that levity.
• 19:10
  Speaker 12: And I know that if my sister were here with
• 19:15
  Speaker 12: their sisters right now, she wouldn't be she wouldn't be
• 19:20
  Speaker 12: happy about it. We're not happy about it. We woke
• 19:25
  Speaker 12: up and like, even when she was moved, I was like,
• 19:29
  Speaker 12: I don't understand how that how the system works. I
• 19:35
  Speaker 12: also after the fact, when she was when the transcripts
• 19:39
  Speaker 12: came out, I didn't see anything that she added to
• 19:42
  Speaker 12: the narrative that would get her that move. You know,
• 19:49
  Speaker 12: I don't I don't understand how that kind of evil
• 19:53
  Speaker 12: can be rewarded.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Let me do show up hands who would like to
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: see President Trump definitively rule out a part in forgialing
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: that as well?
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Every single one of you.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Marika, are you frustrated he hasn't done so yet?
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: Absolutely? Yeah? I mean just toying with the idea as
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: an insult.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: What would you say to the president if he could
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: hear you right now about this, about the potential part
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: and about the case, about all of this that's.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: In the ether right now. What ask why.
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: He's putting so much attention on the criminals and why
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: he seems to value them more than us.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Does anybody else have thoughts on that?
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: Lisa?
• 20:37
  Speaker 10: Yeah, I would say it's so big right now because
• 20:45
  Speaker 10: this administration ran their campaign on this. These were promises
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: that they had made, and if you're in that level,
• 20:56
  Speaker 10: in that capacity. It's your diligence. Is your do to
• 21:01
  Speaker 10: do what your constituents, what you are the American public
• 21:04
  Speaker 10: is asking you for.
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: So that's all we're asking.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: And it's not just one side or the other. This
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: is a non partisan issue. Everyone is asking, even his
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: bas is asking has.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Anybody in this room heard anything from anybody at the
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: White House?
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Or have your representatives?
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: No?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: I do have to ask, and I know, and it's
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: just something that I think we're compelled to at this
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: moment with the attention on President Trump, with these questions
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: are out a part in did anybody see or hear
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: of the President himself doing anything inappropriate as a related
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: to Jeffrey Epstein?
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: No?
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Or former President Clinton? Are you glad there is a
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: renewed spotlight on this? Is there any anything good that
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: you could see coming from this? Or is this reopening
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: these incredibly traumatic moments for you?
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Is it a mixed bag? I wonder how you feel
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: about that.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: I I want to say something, but we're not little
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: girls anymore. Now, we're not little girls anymore, and so
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: there's a it's a different time in all of our
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: lives and all of our different healing journeys where I
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: think even five years ago I would have I would
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: have not been able to sit here.
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: And talk about this.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: I think I think the fact that it's coming up
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: now is horrific, and I think we're rising to the
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: challenge to say this is unacceptable, and we are now
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: more united than we've ever been separately. And so it's
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: a like I said, it's equally devastating at the same time,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: it's a really beautiful moments. It's both are happening at
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: the exact same time. What's the next step that you want.
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: To see for them to finish this so that it
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: can be over. It is heartbreaking to go on the
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: news all the time and.
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: See all of this.
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: It is heartbreaking to have friends send you news articles
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: and be like, hey, oh of this again.
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: I thought this was over for you.
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: And then it's five years later, six years later, here
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: we are again because they're still not doing something from
• 23:11
  Speaker 7: when they started the investigation, years and years and years
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: of prior to that. Had they done their job in
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: the first place, none of us would have to be
• 23:21
  Speaker 7: sitting here on CAREMA today.
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: Well, we won't get accountability until they reopen an investigation.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: That's what I'd like to see happened.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Who also would like to see the DG reopen this investigation?
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: All of you, I think too to your point when
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: you were asking about what do we want to see
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: and what does accountability mean, It's not just about the
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: past and holding people accountable.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: It's what's going to change in.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: The future, right, Because that's where I think the American
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: people are with us. They're like, Okay, if they're not
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: investigating this case was one hundred thousand files in it,
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: how is anyone ever going to get justice with their cases?
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, this particular issue is rarely prosecuted, and there
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: are one hundred thousand files right now sitting somewhere down
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: the street and nobody is doing anything, And so how
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: is any mom going to ever.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: See justice for their child?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Ever?
• 24:22
  Speaker 11: And my fear in all of this is that we
• 24:25
  Speaker 11: are promoting a culture of silence. For as far as
• 24:30
  Speaker 11: we came in opening up conversations in the Me Too movement,
• 24:34
  Speaker 11: what is the message that we are sending to survivors
• 24:37
  Speaker 11: of sexual violence about coming forward?
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: Yes? Yes?
• 24:42
  Speaker 11: And how far back are we going to take ourselves
• 24:46
  Speaker 11: as a nation if we don't give this the attention
• 24:52
  Speaker 11: and scrutiny that it deserves regardless of who is involved.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: This was a crime, and.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: Most of us are parents, so we want to see
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: change for our children.
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's really where it comes.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Real legislation. Yes, real legislation.
• 25:09
  Speaker 10: We have way too many loopholes that allow predators to
• 25:14
  Speaker 10: not be charged.
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: For their crimes.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Like, we have to dig deeper.
• 25:19
  Speaker 10: So accountability always looks like the law should be the
• 25:24
  Speaker 10: very first thing, right, it's the crucial. It's our belief
• 25:28
  Speaker 10: in the justice system. This case right now really depends
• 25:33
  Speaker 10: on the American belief in the justice system.
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: Everything they do.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: The Department of Justice is supposed to be the pillar
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: of that.
• 25:41
  Speaker 10: Yes, okay, so this is where will you leave the
• 25:45
  Speaker 10: American people?
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Where will you leave us?
• 25:50
  Speaker 10: We can't believe in the system that is supposed to
• 25:53
  Speaker 10: be stand for all and protect the vulnerable and the
• 25:55
  Speaker 10: weak and do the process. So it's so intricate, and
• 26:03
  Speaker 10: it's so layered, and there's so much work still to
• 26:05
  Speaker 10: be done to say that where does this end.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: It doesn't. It doesn't.
• 26:11
  Speaker 10: It doesn't because we have to keep going and we
• 26:13
  Speaker 10: have to dig deeper. We have to go through our
• 26:16
  Speaker 10: laws and figure out because it's not perfect.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: It's not perfect.
• 26:20
  Speaker 10: There's still way too many loopholes that are happening right now,
• 26:23
  Speaker 10: and so we have to dig deeper.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Show of hands.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Do you feel like your stories have been treated with
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: dignity and respect that your stories deserve no? Okay, and
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: I would imagine I'll ask you.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Does that trouble you?
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: Liz? Absolutely? It does, Absolutely it does.
• 26:43
  Speaker 11: We haven't been protected up into this point. We haven't
• 26:46
  Speaker 11: been protected and we haven't been informed. And it's an
• 26:49
  Speaker 11: enormous burden to ask a survivor to name the names
• 26:54
  Speaker 11: of their accusers when they don't feel like anything is
• 27:01
  Speaker 11: going to be done about it, and when they know
• 27:04
  Speaker 11: that doing so is going to only bring danger potentially
• 27:12
  Speaker 11: to them and to.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: The people that they love.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: What has it meant to you, Wendy, is somebody who
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: is coming forward now for the first time, and you've
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: sat here and you've heard these stories, and you've heard
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: the perspectives from these women, these family members around you.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: What has this experience been like for you?
• 27:31
  Speaker 9: It tells me that I'm making the right choice, and
• 27:36
  Speaker 9: that's powerful to me because I don't have to second
• 27:40
  Speaker 9: guess myself anymore.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I cannot thank all of you enough.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: We have reached out to various parties for comment, and
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: we have heard back now from an attorney for Glaine Maxwell.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: We're going to read you this statement that NBC News
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: has now received in just the last little bit.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Here it is in full, and I want to say.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: Again this is from Gilaine Maxwell's attorney saying, quote, we
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: can't respond to every outlandish claim against Glaine, or we
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to get any actual work done as
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: far as changing the narrative, most of these women did
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: not mention Gilaine when they were repeatedly interviewed by law
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: enforcement back in the day. David Marcus, Maxwell's attorney goes
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: on to say, only when plaintiff's lawyers came knocking and
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: dollar signs started flashing did they start pointing the finger
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: at Glaine. And let's not forget when Jeffrey Epstein was alive,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: she was not indicted in his case. Only after his
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: death did the narrative wrongfully shift to try.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: To make her the kingpin.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Again a quote in full the statement from David Marcus,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: Gilaine Maxwell's attorney. We have also reached out to the
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: White House for common and of course the Department of
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Justice on the details of this interview.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: We have not yet heard back. We'll let you know
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: when we do.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Remember, Maxwell is appealing her conviction on federal charges for
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Jeffrey Epstein. You can see more of this exclusive conversation
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: coming up in just a little bit tonight over on
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Nightly News, tomorrow, on Today, and across all of our
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: NBC News digital platforms.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: We thank you for watching, and remember stay updated on
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: or watch live on our YouTube channel.