An actress who claims Jeffrey Epstein groped her nearly 30 years ago cried as she begged for legislators to sign off on a measure to release all of the investigative records on the dead pedophile.
Alicia Arden during a press conference Monday called on the House of Representatives to vote to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act and blasted the political tug-of-war last week as “a slap in the face to the victims like myself who are reaching and searching for justice in this matter.”
“The only thing we really learned from the last week is that those in Washington are more concerned with playing political games than they are with being honest with the American people and helping the victims,” Arden said.
Arden claims that she was 27 when the wealthy financier sex offender pretended to be a Victoria’s Secret model scout and lured her to his Santa Monica hotel room in May 1997. He did so under the false premise that she would be auditioning as a model for the lingerie brand.
Instead, Epstein groped Arden before she managed to flee and report the incident to the police that same day.
“I beg you to release these files once and for all,” Arden said, her voice breaking with emotion. “There is no valid reason for refusing to do so. You can’t claim it’s to protect the victims when it’s the victims, like myself, who have been calling for the files to be released.”
“What reason could they possibly have for keeping this information such a secret unless it’s to protect themselves?” she said through tears.
Arden’s lawyer Gloria Allred thanked President Trump for urging the House to pass the measure but said his public comments have left a lot of questions, like whether the commander in chief will maintain the same stance of transparency if the measure reaches the Senate and his desk, too.
The House is set to vote Tuesday and is expected to pass it nearly unanimously. Senate Republicans would vote next and reportedly have enough support to do so. Trump is also expected to sign off on it.
“There are many more questions that flow from the president’s statements,” Allred said. “I look forward to as much justice as is still possible for all the survivors.”
If the measure passes, Attorney General Pam Bondi would have 15 days to send Congress an update on all “categories of records released and withheld,” a list of government officials and “politically exposed persons” named in the files and the reason for any redactions.
Only victims’ names can be redacted while the names of others cannot be withheld merely to save them from embarrassment, the act specifies.
And in 30 days, all the probe materials on Epstein, like his flight logs, the names of his associates and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, his 2008 non-prosecution agreement, civil cases, and records about his death in jail, must all be turned over in a searchable format, the measure says.
Last week, Democrats in the House Oversight Committee released certain emails that suggested Trump may have known about his one-time associate’s criminal conduct.
Epstein, 66, hanged himself in a lower Manhattan lockup while he was awaiting trial on trafficking charges on Aug. 10, 2019. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to child prostitution charges and served an 18-month sentence in which he was allowed out during the day under a work-release program.
