'They Lied To You': James Walkinshaw Presses Epstein Survivors On Alexander Acosta's Plea Deal

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:01]Thank you, Congresswoman. I'd like to now have Representative Wexton.

[00:00:06]Thank you, Ranking Member, and thank you all for being here.

[00:00:09]Walking into this room and telling your stories again takes [clears throat] tremendous courage. And I've I've heard a lot of the stories from survivors, and like everybody, I'm struck by the courage, the commitment to justice for Epstein, Maxwell, and everyone involved in these crimes, but I'm most struck by your commitment to protecting every child and every potential victim of sexual abuse or assault.

[00:00:39]Epstein, Maxwell, and their co-conspirators shattered lives. They targeted vulnerable women and girls, objectifying and attempting to silence them.

[00:00:50]They were protected by their wealth, their power, and their privilege. We can see it here in Palm Beach.

[00:00:57]And as we've heard today, their ability to commit these crimes reflects a systemic and intentional failure by the very institutions meant to protect you.

[00:01:07]Our government let's you down when you deserve protection and justice for the crimes that were committed against you.

[00:01:14]And we're here today to try to do our part to correct some of these failures. And we're not going to stop until the truth comes out, the extent of the crimes, the involvement of all of the co-conspirators is revealed.

[00:01:32]I want to focus on two patterns that have emerged today.

[00:01:36]First, Epstein and Maxwell weaponizing immigration status and travel documents against survivors, confiscating passports, holding visas hostage to trap women and girls in their orbit.

[00:01:51]And then when survivors like yourselves were brave enough to speak up, our justice system ignoring reinforcing the sense that there was nowhere safe for you to turn?

[00:02:03]Rosa, Ms. Wild, thank you for being here today. I want to ask you both just a couple questions related to these patterns.

[00:02:11]Rosa, can you tell us again how Epstein used your visa status as leverage to keep you under his control?

[00:02:21]Mhm.

[00:02:22]O-1 visa is a visa for an individual with extraordinary abilities and it takes a lot of documents to obtain that visa. I have helped um one individual to obtain similar visa and I learned the amount of documents needed to be gathered.

[00:02:40]Looking back at my case now, I did not have like [snorts] documents to obtain that visa. I am 100% sure of that. Um my agency being able to obtain that visa for me in such a short time, which is was less than 6 months, it's a miracle.

[00:02:56]You try to do that right now, you won't be able to. Mhm.

[00:03:00]I want to know how.

[00:03:05]And I it's impossible. So, I knew that my visa was linked to him and if he is unpleased, I would be sent back.

[00:03:17]And are you aware of Epstein using similar tactics against other women or girls?

[00:03:24]I have personally met a foreigner girl at his mansion in West Palm Beach and I have personally have not seen a foreigner come forward to tell the story and I hope my case will bring more people out in front because there are many other people who speak broken English or don't speak English at all who can take tell their stories. Thank you.

[00:03:51]Ms. Wild, you were 14 as you testified when you first encountered Mr. Epstein.

[00:03:56]Is this you? Yes.

[00:03:58]A child. Yes.

[00:04:00]I just want to go back to the DOJ investigation and the sweetheart deal for Epstein and ask you were you told by the Department of Justice that your case was still being investigated even after Alex Acosta signed off on Epstein's plea deal?

[00:04:20]Yes, they sent me a paper in the mail.

[00:04:23]My attorneys have it. Um, that saying it was going to be a lengthy process and that, you know, they were doing everything that they could um, to put him away. But at that time when the letter was uh, dated, it had already been signed, the non-prosecution agreement.

[00:04:40]>> You learned later that they had already signed the deal. Yes. So that letter they sent you was a lie. They lied to you. Yes.

[00:04:47]Thank you. Thank you both. I yield back.