{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/watch-senator-gallego-reads-excerpts-from-epstein-survivors-memoir-on-senate-floor/", "WATCH: Senator Gallego Reads Excerpts from Epstein Survivor\u2019s Memoir on Senate Floor", "2025-11-18", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Ruben Gallego", "G000574", "www.gallego.senate.gov", "gallego", "https://www.gallego.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) read excerpts of Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre\u2019s memoir, Nobody\u2019s Girl, on the Senate floor.\n\nWatch Senator Gallego\u2019s speech HERE and read it below:\n\n\u201cI want us to remember what\u2019s really at stake here. This isn\u2019t about Democrats versus Republicans, it\u2019s about real girls who were hurt, abused, and trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and the powerful people who surrounded him.\n\n\u201cOne of those girls was Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She was forced to stay silent for years, but today, I want to let her speak in her own words.\n\n\u201cVirginia was just sixteen when she started working at Mar-a-Lago, where she met Epstein\u2019s recruiter, Ghislaine Maxwell. She writes in her memoir:\n\n\u201c\u2018Maxwell says she knows a wealthy man\u2014 longtime Mar\u2011a\u2011Lago member, she says\u2014who is looking for a massage therapist to travel with him. My lack of experience doesn\u2019t concern her a bit. \u2018I\u2019m sure you\u2019d be terrific,\u2019 she insists, looking me up and down. \u2018Will you come for an interview?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Even today, more than twenty years later, I remember how excited I felt. Could my dreams of becoming a professional masseuse be on their way to coming true so quickly? Something about how this proper, well-spoken lady focused on me made that seem possible. I told her I had to get permission from my dad first, but that I really wanted to come.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat wealthy man, we all know now, was Jeffrey Epstein.\n\n\u201cAnd that moment began years of trafficking abuse for Virginia.\n\n\u201cLater in her memoir, she writes: \u2018I was about to spend more than two years in Epstein and Max\u00adwell\u2019s orbit. My job: to do whatever they asked whenever they asked it. There were no bars on the windows or locks on the doors. But I was a prisoner trapped in an invisible cage.\u2019\n\n\u201cThose are the words of a child. A child who should have been safe. A child who should have been safe from predators like Epstein and Maxwell.\n\n\u201cShe talks about how Epstein gave her money to rent an apartment so her parents wouldn\u2019t question why she had to go to meet Epstein\u2019s clients in the middle of the night.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s the thing, Epstein didn\u2019t act alone. He had help. And the men who helped him target and abuse young girls and protected him are still out there walking around like nothing happened.\n\n\u201cThis can\u2019t just be another news cycle or another Tuesday. There needs to be justice.\n\n\u201cWe owe it to Virginia Giuffre and every survivor of Epstein\u2019s to finally get the full truth of how this happened and who allowed it to happen.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m going to again call for the full release of the Epstein files.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s bring this evidence out, stop the secrecy, the cover-ups, and the protecting of these elites.\n\n\u201cThe American people deserve the truth, and Virginia deserves transparency, accountability, and healing.\n\n\u201cAt a press conference earlier today, another Epstein survivor said \u2018Today we stand in a moment that will decide whether our government belongs to the American people, or to those who prey on them.\u2019\n\n\u201cWe owe it to her, and to every survivor, to chose accountability and release the files.\u201d\n\nEarlier today, Gallego joined dozens of his Senate colleagues in a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) urging him to bring the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed the House of Representatives earlier today 427-1, to the Senate floor as soon as possible for a vote. The bill would require the Department of Justice to release all documents and records related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, ensuring transparency with the American people and justice for the victims.\n\nIn July, Senator Gallego twice spoke on the floor calling on the Senate to pass his resolution urging the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) objected and blocked its passage through unanimous consent both times.\n\n11/18/25", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/watch-senator-gallego-reads-excerpts-from-epstein-survivors-memoir-on-senate-floor/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.667050015181303, "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"}