00:00Hey, everyone. My name is Sky Roberts, and I am the brother of Virginia Roberts-Dufresne.
00:06There are moments in a nation's life where we are tested, not by our words, but by what we are
00:13willing to confront.
00:15Today, we stand at one of these moments.
00:18America is at a crossroads.
00:19We can choose to let the Epstein case remain a stain on our history, another chapter where the powerful are
00:25protected.
00:25The truth is buried, and survivors are asked to carry the consequences in silence.
00:31Or we can choose something different.
00:34We can choose truth.
00:36We can choose accountability.
00:38And we can choose to build a country where no one, no matter how wealthy, connected, or politically insulated, stands
00:45above the law.
00:46Today, we are here proudly representing our sister, Virginia Roberts-Dufresne.
00:50Today, standing with members of Congress and with survivors across the nation and across the world.
00:57Because Virginia's story is the story so many survivors know too well.
01:02A mountain of obstacles that seem impossible to climb.
01:05Pain so deep, it doesn't fit into words.
01:12And a system that too often makes the survivor carry the burden instead of the perpetrator.
01:18But I am here to say proudly, and with absolute conviction, that what Virginia did for this world will not
01:26be in vain.
01:32She may have left this earth, but her soul is still here.
01:42It lives in every survivor who decides to speak.
01:46It lives in every victim who is still finding their voice.
01:49And it lives in every person who refuses to accept a country where exploitation is met with impunity.
01:56Virginia did not just survive, she fought.
02:00She pushed back against a culture of silence.
02:02She forced the world to look at what it wanted to ignore.
02:05And she proved what happens when an ordinary person decides they will not be erased.
02:14So today, I invite the world into this community.
02:18Not as spectators, but as participants.
02:23Because on days like this, we may hear powerful voices try to distract us.
02:29To divide us, to turn accountability into politics, and truth into a talking point.
02:35But I want to speak directly to the families and communities watching.
02:39The brothers, the mothers, the sisters, and the fathers.
02:43Every person who loves someone who has been harmed.
02:47Choose unity.
02:49Choose love.
02:52And choose the courage it takes to stand with survivors.
02:54Not only when it is easy, but when it is expensive.
02:58When it is uncomfortable.
02:59And when it challenges powerful people.
03:02Virginia had a deep passion for bringing people together.
03:05She had a deep love for her survivor sisters.
03:09And she had a deep love for the millions of victims and survivors around the world.
03:13Who may never be known by name.
03:16And whose lives matter just the same.
03:19To say she trailblazed through obstacles is an understatement.
03:23Virginia helped build a road for survivors to walk.
03:25Toward truth.
03:27Toward dignity.
03:28Toward justice.
03:29And we are here today to carry her torch down that road.
03:33We are asking Congress, the public, and every institution with the power to act to carry that torch with us.
03:40And that brings me to why we are here.
03:42Not only to speak, but to demand action.
03:44If we truly believe survivors deserve more than sympathy.
03:47If we truly believe justice should not depend on status.
03:50Then we must put it into law.
03:53That is why we are calling on Congress to advance Virginia's law.
03:58Virginia's law is about saying clearly that the rules that protected abusers and traffickers for decades will no longer stand.
04:05It is about closing the gaps that powerful people exploit.
04:09It is about strengthening accountability so survivors are not forced to fight alone for years against the machine built to
04:15wear them down.
04:16It is not vengeance, it is not protection, it is prevention, and it is justice.
04:22And to anyone who thinks this moment can be reduced to a headline or a media cycle or even a
04:27Super Bowl moment for political theater, let me be clear.
04:32The only thing more powerful than hate is love.
04:37And this is not going away.
04:39We will not stop until the truth is faced and justice is pursued for Virginia, for her survivor sisters, and
04:45for every victim and survivor around the world who deserves to know that their lives are worth more than someone
04:51else's reputation.
04:54Good morning, everybody.
04:55We are here today as survivors and as the families of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
05:02We are here as the family of Virginia Roberts-Dufresne.
05:05My name is Skye Roberts, and I am the brother of Virginia Roberts-Dufresne.
05:10Pam, I have a clear and simple message for you.
05:13The way this administration and you specifically have handled survivors has been nothing short of a failure.
05:20I have a message from Annie Farmer.
05:22She's not here today, but I love her to death.
05:24Believe that.
05:25And she said, Pam, do your job.
05:29Do your job, Pam.
05:31And I feel that.
05:33There are serious questions that demand answers.
05:36Why are the perpetrators' names being redacted while survivors' names are left unredacted?
05:41We are done with excuses.
05:43We are done with delays.
05:45No more lies.
05:46No more deflection.
05:47We want answers, and we want accountability.
05:51Virginia was not a headline.
05:52She was a daughter, a sister, a mother, and a human being.
06:01She carried what was done to her for years and still chose to fight, not just for herself, but for
06:08others who were afraid or silenced.
06:13And we need to say this plainly.
06:15The handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case has been mismanaged again and again across administrations, across agencies, and across years.
06:25That failure is not abstract.
06:28It has caused real, lasting damage to survivors, and that is not up for debate.
06:35We are here to see whether our representatives will stand with survivors, not with excuses, not with delay, not with
06:43political convenience.
06:45We are here to see whether you will ask the hard questions that have been avoided for far too long.
06:51Hello, everyone.
06:53My name is Sky Roberts, and I am the brother of Virginia Roberts-Dufresne.
06:59I am deeply honored to stand here today alongside some of the most extraordinary people you will ever meet,
07:06including World Without Exploitation, Congressman Chuck Schumer, Congresswoman Teresa Ledger Fernandez,
07:15survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, and the legendary Sigrid McCauley, known to many of us as Siggy.
07:41I want to begin with a single word.
07:44A word that meant everything to my sister.
07:48A word we will not stop fighting for until real justice is served.
07:53And that word is change.
07:57Virginia's dream was to inspire and empower survivors to come forward.
08:01In a world that too often turns away from abuse and pushes it into the shadows, she wanted to bring
08:08light.
08:09That light is change.
08:13Virginia's dream was to inspire and empower survivors to come forward.
08:21One of the main missions of her nonprofit, SOAR, was to eliminate the statute of limitations on adult sex trafficking.
08:27She talked about it all the time while elevating the voices of survivors, alongside her publicist and dear friend, Dean
08:35Yvonne Muffling.
08:37Today, we give Virginia her voice back.
08:41We amplify the voices of survivors around the world.
08:45Today, we send a clear message to perpetrators everywhere by introducing Virginia's law.
08:51We are introducing Virginia's law because survivors deserve justice, not expiration dates.
08:58Change must mean justice, not someday, not in speeches, not in private settlements, justice in law, justice in court, and
09:11justice in the form of consequence.
09:14Virginia's law is more than legislation.
09:17It is a change in the truest form.
09:20It challenges how we see, how we confront, and how we respond to sexual abuse and sex trafficking, not just
09:28in theory, but in reality.
09:32We do not take this moment lightly.
09:35We are holding an overwhelming mix of grief, loss, and pride.
09:41And if our voices shake and our tears fall, it is only because of the depth of our love for
09:47our sister.
09:49Grief without action is another kind of silence.
09:53And Virginia did not survive what she survived just to be silenced again.
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