Democrats in Congress are planning to shame President Donald Trump by bringing Jeffrey Epstein survivors to Tuesday’s State of the Union.
Some members of Congress are sending the survivors in their stead, while others have invited them to be their guests when Trump addresses the nation at the Capitol on Tuesday evening.
Reps. Jamie Raskin and Suhas Subramanyam are bringing Sky and Amanda Roberts, the brother and sister-in-law of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, who died by suicide in April 2025.
“The Trump administration is fighting our push for justice at every step with a cover-up. It is an honor to bring Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s family as our guests for the State of the Union to be a visible reminder to Trump that we’re not giving in or giving up,” Subramanyam, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has invited Dani Bensky, another survivor of Epstein’s abuse, to be one of his guests. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will also bring a survivor, a source familiar with his plans told Roll Call.
GOP rebel Rep. Thomas Massie, who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, estimated that up to 12 survivors could attend Trump’s address, Roll Call reported.
Trump, who was close friends with Epstein for years, has been criticized by some survivors for his handling of Epstein’s case and for resisting fully releasing the files from the government’s investigation into the convicted sex trafficker.
Last year, he was slammed for refusing to meet with survivors while working to dissuade Republicans from voting for Khanna and Massie’s bill, which mandated a full disclosure of the files.
After Congress passed the bill and Trump—knowing the numbers were not on his side—was forced to sign it into law, the Justice Department missed the deadline for disclosing the files. Amid their staggered release, the DOJ has been criticized for redacting Epstein’s associates while failing to redact survivors’ names in the files.
Reps. Pramila Jayapal, James Walkinshaw, Teresa Leger Fernández, and Emily Randall—along with Khanna—are also bringing survivors, according to NewsNation’s Joe Khalil.
Khanna has invited Haley Robson, who was trafficked by Epstein when she was 16. A Trump voter in 2024, Robson has since turned against the president and blasted him last year for repeatedly dismissing the Epstein files as a “hoax.”
“Haley’s courageous fight is proof that this isn’t about politics, it’s about exposing America’s two-tiered system of justice and bringing accountability to the Epstein class involved in the horrific abuse of young girls,” Khanna said in a statement.
