Former US attorney general Bondi will testify about the Epstein files in the closed case. The survivors will be waiting
When Donald Trump’s former attorney general Pam Bondi appears Friday before the House Oversight Committee she will not be sworn in and the hearing on the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case will be closed to the public. Epstein survivors are hoping for answers and will be on Capitol Hill, too.
As Bondi testified, one of the roughly half-a-dozen Epstein survivors waiting outside the hearing room would be Canadian Sharlene Rochard.
“We hope that we will get a lot of information from Bondi if he is willing to talk,” said Rochard.
They hope Bondi is asked whether any investigative leads were closed without notifying the victims, he said, and whether leads involving powerful or politically connected people were not followed up because of conflicts of interest or undue influence.
Bondi was originally subpoenaed in March to appear before the House Oversight Committee, but Trump dismissed him as Attorney General in April. The Department of Justice argued that because he was subpoenaed in his capacity as Attorney General he should not appear before the committee.
In the end, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee opted to have Bondi appear, instead, for a “written interview.”
That didn’t sit well with other House Democrats on the committee, including Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, where Epstein was present. accused of abusing women on his Zorro farm.
“Let’s be clear – we called Bondi to apply, and he has to testify under oath. Why not? Well, because the Republican Chairman decided that a closed interview is enough,” Stansbury wrote about X. “But we know that’s not the case. Bondi must testify under oath, on camera, for the public to see.”
Sharlene Rochard was young when she first went to the US to model and ended up on the trail of the sex crime that was found guilty by Jeffrey Epstein. Now, the Canadian survivor is turning her trauma into a public advocate, telling CBC’s Katie Nicholson how she recovered from her pain and found her voice.
The victims spoke before hearing
Although Epstein’s victims are not allowed to enter the courtroom, they will speak before it begins.
They will have dozens of volumes of Epstein files on hand, sent from the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room, which is maintained by a nonprofit organization. Center for basic facts.
The public exhibit, which featured bound copies of the Epstein files released in New York City, is now on tour, with its first stop in Washington, DC, where it has sent volumes with potential investigators flagged inside.
The volumes are there “so people can see how many leads there actually are,” Rochard said. “A reminder of what needs to be done.”
He says survivors are not asking for “spectacle,” but rather, truth, accountability, meaningful action and transparency about the rehabilitation process and investigative decisions.
And “whether every reliable lead was followed,” he said.
‘One of the hardest things I’ve ever done’
Rochard came to the fore last fall after seeing a familiar face in stories from her early modeling days. Lisa Phillips – another Epstein survivor – was speaking on Capitol Hill at a news conference calling for accountability and openness in the Justice Department.
That day Rochard called Phillips and told him that he too had been trafficked by Epstein.
“One of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my entire life was to start talking about the parts of my life that were so difficult,” Rochard said.
In the meantime30:33Epstein’s survivors are demanding his files be released and they’re winning — but their fight isn’t over
Jess Michaels and Liz Stein say the sisters of the women who were harmed by Jeffrey Epstein are determined to keep up the pressure as the deadline for the Trump administration to produce the documents looms even further.
Rochard says she was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein as a young model and trafficked when she was 20, but remained silent for decades about the abuse. He cannot explain in detail because he is involved in ongoing legal proceedings to arrest people he says have abused him.
One day, while she was grocery shopping, a reporter sent her a picture of Epstein’s island and the weight of the memory hit her hard.
“I got the text, I put my groceries in my cart. I sat down and started screaming. Like, I couldn’t drive home,” he said.
Phillips says it was heartbreaking to learn that Rochard had gone through the kind of abuse he had.
“I never knew Sharlene that it had happened to her, or to some extent, I didn’t even know she had been on the island,” he said.
“It’s lonely to deal with the pain of what happened to you, but when you know it happened to someone else, it’s not easy.”
Phillips invited Rochard to LA to meet with other survivors to record a public service announcement with the anti-trafficking group World Without Exploitation to play during the Super Bowl.
WATCH | Some Epstein survivors recorded this PSA that aired during the Super Bowl:
“They were very nice and easygoing,” Rochard said of the other survivors he met that day. “And I felt, like, that connection that I never had before. I’ve been alone for a long time and I’m just living with this knowledge, but I couldn’t tell too many people.”
Rochard remembers analyzing the day they filmed the segment because he wasn’t used to talking about what happened.
“The words they wanted us to say in the PSA, just hit me hard.”
Since November, Rochard has received support from the women she calls her survivors’ sisters as they demand transparency, reform, and an end to human trafficking at the United Nations and the US Congress.
He is also in contact with other groups of lawyers in Canada who hope to change the laws in this country to strengthen the protection of victims of intimate partner violence and their children.
Survivors say the DOJ still hasn’t reached out
The last time Rochard and Bondi were so close was in February when Bondi refused to face survivors standing behind him after Democratic Alliance member Pramila Jayapal asked him to apologize.
“It felt like I was a little kid again, just asking for someone to acknowledge me, to be honest,” Rochard said, adding that it hurt that Bondi “just couldn’t turn around and say, ‘You know what, I’m sorry.’ “
Meanwhile, about a dozen survivors raised their hands when asked if they were still waiting for Trump’s DOJ to contact them.
Rochard, who gave the names of the men she said abused her to her lawyer, says the survivors are willing to meet with DOJ officials, but so far no one has been contacted.
“I think that’s also degrading.”
Survivors, he says, have also faced accusations of being part of a Democratic hoax, received online threats and had to deal with vigilantes. Still, they don’t give up.
Get the latest on CBCNews.ca, the CBC News App, and CBC News Network for breaking news and analysis.
Survivors stand up for Virginia Law
In addition to demanding accountability and the full release of the Epstein files, survivors have been knocking on doors on Capitol Hill in support of the Virginia Act.
The bill introduced in February was named in honor of Virginia Giuffre, one of the first women to expose Epstein, and who. he killed himself last April. It wants to lift the statute of limitations on civil claims for adult victims of sexual assault and sex trafficking so they can sue their abusers.
Rochard also works with human rights organizations and speaks on Capitol Hill and at the United Nations about human trafficking. She educates young people – especially in the modeling industry – about the red flags of human trafficking activities.
It’s been a life-changing experience for the mother of four, who says she draws courage from her children, aged 11 to 15.
“I think about them at every press conference, every time I speak,” she said. “I know they will see everything I do and I want them to be proud of me.”
Before going public, Rochard had to tell his children what happened to him. They all gathered for their mother with pride.
“Every time I hear him speak, I am blown away by the way he says it,” said Bella, 15.
“She has so much power behind her voice, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s my mom!’ “
