The victims of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have found themselves entangled in a war between the Democrats and Republicans as doubts emerge on whether either can be trusted to help them fight against the exploitation of women, writes Edward Helmore inThe Guardian.
"Despite the frequent efforts of lawmakers to harness the scandal for political purposes, the victims of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation have been a strong voice in keeping the focus on the impact of sexual abuse and on Epstein’s wide circle of allies across all sides of the US political and cultural landscape," Helmore says.
That effort was on display last week when over a dozen of the victims gathered at the Capitol to advocate for the forcing of the vote to release the Epstein files.
"But, despite the efforts of the victims, politics is still being played with the issue," Helmore says, adding that "some Epstein survivors who spoke at the Capitol were unconvinced that Trump’s turnaround to support the Epstein Files Transparency Act was genuine."
Epstein survivor and vocal advocate for victims Haley Robson is dubious of the motives of both parties.
“I can’t help but to be skeptical of what the agenda is," Robson said. “So with that being said, I want to relay this message to you: I am traumatized. I am not stupid.”
As President Donald Trump tried to deflect, calling the scandal a Democratic hoax, "there have emerged dissenting voices on whether either political party can be trusted on the Epstein issue and if either truly serves the purpose of exposing and preventing the exploitation of women, including the politically active Epstein victims," Helmore says.
Wendy Murphy, a former sex crimes prosecutor who serves as a professor of sexual violence law at New England Law Boston, tells The Guardian that "All you have to do is close your eyes, wake up, the wind blows in the other direction, and suddenly it’s the other party that claims to the party of women that cares about abuse."
"There is zero consistency because we know it’s across party lines where the abuse comes from. This is really a male problem and not party or political problem. Neither party actually cares about women and neither party actually cares about victims," Murphy adds.
Victim Rina Oh, who attended the Capitol gathering last week, agrees, saying “I feel stuck in the middle. Everyone is pulling me from each side and I refuse to side with anyone."
“I just want criminals who prey on children brought to justice, and that’s apolitical, because I don’t think predators pick out victims based on what political party they belong to,” she says.
In a post on X last week, Murphy wrote, “Anyone who thinks this is a left-right issue is a fool.”
Murphy also thinks both sides are "in trouble" telling The Guardian, "when the government-held documents are released sometime over the next month, the odds of the public getting what it thinks it’s getting are effectively zero. Continuing to boil the pot should make all of us wonder what’s actually going on behind the scenes.”
“We’ll probably never know. Anyone who thinks they know is just naive," she says.