Six women who say they were trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell came forward in Washington, D.C., with a powerful, unified appeal: release more federal files connected to Epstein’s decades-long crimes and hold accountable those who enabled him. But their appearance, organized in part by NBC News, also carried an unexpected twist — the women refused to endorse unverified claims tying former President Donald Trump to Epstein, a move that undercut the media narrative some outlets had hoped to build.

The women — Jess Michaels, Wendy Avis, Marijke Chartouni, Jena-Lisa Jones, Lisa Phillips, and Liz Stein — stood together at a panel discussion that also included relatives of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most high-profile accusers. Giuffre, who had been a central figure in exposing Epstein’s trafficking network, died by suicide in April, a loss that still reverberates among survivors

Each of the women described not only the personal toll of Epstein’s abuse but also the systemic failures that allowed him to operate for so long despite repeated warnings and investigations.

“Epstein was a master manipulator,” Michaels said, recalling how she was raped in 1991 when she was 22. “That was a strategy that was honed. No young woman, no teenage girl had a chance — not a chance against his psychopathic skills.” Read more below