{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://ross.house.gov/2025/9/rep-ross-and-ranking-member-raskin-lead-judiciary-democrats-in-urging-chairman-jordan-to-invite-epstein-survivors-to-testify-before-judiciary-committee", "Rep. Ross and Ranking Member Raskin Lead Judiciary Democrats in Urging Chairman Jordan to Invite Epstein Survivors to Testify Before Judiciary Committee", "2025-09-26", "2025", "2025-09", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Deborah K. Ross", "R000305", "ross.house.gov", "ross", "https://ross.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Today, Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) and Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led Judiciary Democrats in sending a letter to Chairman Jim Jordan calling on him to allow survivors of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their co-conspirators to testify before the Committee. Committee Democrats stressed that victim testimony would provide a vital platform for survivors to share their experiences and inform lawmakers in efforts to enact bipartisan reforms to fix the justice system failures that enabled Epstein\u2019s crimes.\n\n\u201cWe write to request that the Committee on the Judiciary provide survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators\u2019 abuse the opportunity to share their testimony with the Committee. The release of Justice Department files related to the sex trafficking ring led by Epstein, while necessary, is not a substitute for the voices of these survivors. The House Judiciary Committee has an important role to play in addressing the institutional failures that enabled these horrific crimes and failed to protect the women and girls he trafficked and abused,\u201d wrote the members.\n\nWhile the House Oversight Committee\u2019s recent subpoenas for Epstein documents\u2014coupled with Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2019s upcoming testimony before the House Judiciary Committee\u2014represent important steps toward getting all the facts surrounding Epstein\u2019s criminal sex trafficking ring, many questions remain, and many voices still need to be heard. Earlier this month, Judiciary Democrats, together with Rep. Thomas Massie, led an effort to subpoena key information and testimony on Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s crimes and the Trump Administration\u2019s cover-up that was ultimately blocked by Committee Republicans.\n\nIn their letter, Judiciary Democrats urged Chairman Jordan to allow survivors to testify and share their stories so that the Committee can gain a more complete understanding of the systemic breakdowns and shortcomings that enabled Mr. Epstein\u2019s network to operate for so long, including potential gaps in law enforcement practices, prosecutorial discretion, victim protection protocols, reporting requirements, and institutional oversight. This knowledge could inform future bipartisan legislative efforts to prevent such crimes from occurring in the future.\n\n\u201cWe respectfully urge you to hold a hearing that gives these survivors the opportunity, at their discretion, to testify, while working with experts and advocates to ensure that the hearing process is respectful, safe, and centered on the needs of those testifying,\u201d concluded the Members.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://ross.house.gov/2025/9/rep-ross-and-ranking-member-raskin-lead-judiciary-democrats-in-urging-chairman-jordan-to-invite-epstein-survivors-to-testify-before-judiciary-committee"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.045966986566782, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}