Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein will testify publicly for the first time on Tuesday

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Lawmakers continue to investigate people connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This time Democrats taking their show on the road and their questions to the president's backyard, West Palm Beach, Florida.

[00:00:11]Our senior national correspondent Alex Miller is there ahead of tomorrow's hearing.

[00:00:16]Democrats on the House Oversight Committee will be here in Florida Tuesday to hold a hearing with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. It's what's known as a shadow hearing, one organized by the minority party and it's the first time we will hear from survivors testifying publicly under oath about what happened to them.

[00:00:35]We spoke with survivor Marina Lacerda who now lives in this area about what it's like to bring this issue to her backyard.

[00:00:43]You've been out front talking about this issue for a little bit now. What does it feel like to have Congress coming to this area?

[00:00:54]I feel that, you know, Congress wants to come in and definitely help us out. I think that while we have the Trump administration, I don't think we're going to go anywhere with this, to be honest with you. I think we're going to have to wait for this administration to leave for in order for us to even start criminally charging or start to even take any type of action in this case. Your abuse happened in New York, but now you live in the backyard of where a lot of the other abuse happened. What does that feel like to kind of be in the vicinity still of so many people's pain?

[00:01:25]Sometimes when we do get together the survivors, um, the Florida girls, um, we try not to bring this up, right?

[00:01:35]Because it's something in the past, right? And we talk about it all the time. I live far from West Palm, so I don't feel that heavy, you know, energy, you know, um, I just feel like when I meet with my survivor sister here in Florida, I can feel that sometimes it's hard for them to get through, but I I like they're doing such a great job still living here. How do they feel about having all this happen here uh for Tuesday? They're both happy and a little bit upsetting to having to go back to a place where they were abused, you know, but they are happy that this hearing is happening. I think it's um it's most important, you know, for this generation to see how the grooming was happening and and with the school and also for parents, you know, to realize and understand like how um you know, predators can work.

[00:02:26]>> What's it been like for you to join this survivor community here? It's like ups and downs, you know? We have, you know, our we have we're girls, you know, so girls can always we have different opinions and sometimes we don't agree, but at the end of the day we always come together and we try to find um the best conclusion not only for us, but for the advocacy work that we do. What will feel make you feel good about the hearing on Tuesday? What would make me feel good is for us to get moving and start criminally investigating and charging some of these perpetrators, you know, I think that's what we've been asking for, right? And also hopefully have the rest of the files come out.

[00:03:11]It's time to drop the rest of the files.

[00:03:13]It's time for us to really start not putting hearings together, but to really really start investigating these perpetrators. What would justice look like? The reason for this hearing, yes, it is to bring, you know, the survivors together to advocate for, you know, uh the files and you know, to criminally charge people, but it is to bring awareness. Florida is one of the biggest place where human trafficking happens.

[00:03:39]Lisette tells us she will be in attendance at Tuesday's hearing where a handful of survivors are expected to speak. As of Monday afternoon, Democratic lawmakers have not released the full witness list. Alex Miller, Scripps News Group, West Palm Beach, Florida.