00:00First, I'd like to thank you all, and thank you to the committee for hearing survivor
00:04voices.
00:05I'd like to remind you of who you're hearing from today.
00:08At this time, can my survivor sisters and family please rise?
00:15We may look like grown adults when you see us now, but we were children, young girls
00:21at the time of our abuse.
00:22These are the photos of when our innocence, dreams, and lives were stolen.
00:27Please take these faces in as you think of us as your own family, daughters, nieces,
00:33sisters.
00:34Now look at our faces and remember the women and families of who the DOJ re-victimized.
00:40You guys can sit.
00:41Thank you so much.
00:44I'm a teacher.
00:45In my school, if a student released a nude photo depicting a peer's sexual assault and
00:50abuse, they would almost certainly face expulsion.
00:53And yet, this is what our Department of Justice did to crime victims.
00:58Today, Todd Blanche has been at the helm of the release of nude images of survivors, the
01:06outing of Jane Doe's, and the exposure of more than 100 victims identifying information
01:12and documents describing horrific acts of abuse, including my own.
01:18Instead of treating this release as its own violation and holding the man who led it accountable,
01:24you have a decision on whether you place him in the highest law enforcement position in
01:31this country.
01:34In December, before the document release, our attorneys submitted 350 victims' names
01:39to the Department of Justice as victims' names to be redacted prior to the release.
01:46In that first release, I found my name in two pleases.
01:49In that next release in January, my name appeared again, but this time the redactions were so far worse.
01:54The files displayed not only my name, but my phone number, my former addresses, where I worked, and other identifying
02:02information.
02:03When my name appeared in the third file release, it became difficult to believe that this was not intentional.
02:10Despite my lawyer repeatedly contacting the DOJ, seeking protection, my information continued to be exposed.
02:19And it's not just my name, it's the identifying information.
02:22These documents contain disturbing, yet incomplete accounts of my abuse.
02:27They were available not only for the entire world to see, but my child, my students, my friends, my employers,
02:34my colleagues, and my family.
02:36It was humiliating.
02:39Worse, my FBI 302 exposed a Jane Doe, who had fought for decades to conceal her identity.
02:46It's been absolutely devastating.
02:50Outing survivors causes real and irrevocable harm.
02:54While coping with our emotional distress and psychological trauma, we also have lost our privacy and confidentiality,
03:02suffered reputational harm, lost jobs, and now fear for our personal safety.
03:08We are not activists.
03:11We are crime victims.
03:14For us, this has never been about politics.
03:17It has been about getting justice for the crimes committed against us.
03:22And the redactions are not the only problem with Todd Blanche's nomination.
03:26Todd Blanche has never attempted to listen to us, the crime victims.
03:30Survivors in this room repeatedly asked to meet with Todd Blanche through multiple channels.
03:36He never responded.
03:37Yesterday, he said he would meet with us, with our attorneys, if they were present.
03:42But let's be clear, that was the first time that that was ever communicated to us before yesterday.
03:47He simply ignored us for the last eight months.
03:51He has been radio silent, and the silence was deafening.
03:55Crime victims deserve better from the nation's highest level of law enforcement officials.
04:01We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored.
04:05There are numerous investigative leads that must be followed, despite Mr. Blanche's claim that there are none.
04:13Epstein and Maxwell did not abuse women and children alone.
04:18They did not build their operation alone.
04:21Others enabled these crimes, exploited victims, and avoided accountability for decades.
04:27You do not have to take my word for it.
04:30Several weeks ago, after examining the evidence, Chairman James Comer directed Todd Blanche to open investigations into two men connected
04:38to Epstein.
04:38The Epstein files are not merely a collection of embarrassing names and politically damaging associations.
04:46They are records connected to the sexual exploitation and trafficking of girls and young women.
04:54They contain information about how Epstein's network worked, who assisted him, and whether additional crimes can still be investigated.
05:03The Department of Justice should pursue every credible lead, not just tirelessly, tirelessly, work tirelessly, not just to shut down
05:13the investigations.
05:15The survivors in this room know there are investigative leads because they are our stories.
05:21Mr. Blanche knows it too, yet he has chosen not to pursue them.
05:25Mr. Blanche's actions have destroyed survivors' trust.
05:29According to public reporting, Mr. Blanche spent approximately nine hours meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell.
05:37He did not even spend nine minutes meeting with a survivor.
05:41Afterward, Maxwell was transferred to what many have described as a summer camp prison.
05:46We learned all of this through the news.
05:49Imagine what that feels like as a survivor to sit there if you were exploited by Ghislaine Maxwell
05:54and you're hearing this for the first time with no explanation, no outreach, and no transparency from your community.
06:01And to add insult to injury, the information that Todd Blanche gathered in the White House Situation Room last summer
06:07to curb the political fallout from the Epstein files was absolutely abhorrent.
06:13Instead of following investigative leads, our government treated and continued to treat this as a political crisis that needs to
06:21be managed.
06:22In our nation, everyone deserves equal protection under the law.
06:26Todd Blanche has been unwilling to protect Epstein survivors' personal information.
06:31And he has been resistant to investigate the people who helped Epstein and Maxwell commit those crimes.
06:38We need an Attorney General committed to ensuring that everyone who facilitated Epstein's crimes is held accountable.
06:46Please, I implore you, please, think carefully and think about the girls in these photos.
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