An anonymous Epstein survivor spoke publicly for the first time in a TV interview, claiming that Donald Trump “must have known” about the pedophile financier’s victims.
The anonymous survivor has broken almost two decades of silence, having never even spoken to her friends or family about the abuse she endured when she was just 16 years old.
She spoke exclusively to Channel 5 News in the UK, on a program that aired Wednesday evening, alongside an interview with Marina Lacerda – a key witness in the prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.
The survivor said of Trump: “He had to have known something. He had to have had an idea. You know, he always boasted about their friendship, but I never knew how close or how involved they were.”
She also claimed that “he had pictures of them at his house together,” which she said she had seen. “They were friends... I don’t know how he couldn’t have [known],” she added.
Trump has vehemently denied knowing Epstein’s victims and has previously dismissed reports about the pair’s friendship as a “democratic hoax.”
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The anonymous survivor has since responded to Trump’s dismissal by stating, “I’m not a hoax. I wish it was, but it’s not. And it did, it absolutely did happen. As much as I want to pretend it didn’t happen, it did, and I have to live with it for the rest of my life.”
She explains that she struggled to tell even her friends and family the true extent of what had happened to her: “The only person that I’ve told is my boyfriend now, and that took 13 years. I felt like I’ve lived two different lives, and pretend it never happened and then have normal conversations. Meanwhile, you’re dying on the inside.”
For her, she says, accountability lies in the Epstein files. “I don’t know what justice looks like for me, because the only person that’s traumatised me is dead. I want the people [to be] held accountable for the other girls. Their people are still out there, and I feel like they need justice.”
Lacerda was just 14 years old when she met Epstein. Until two months ago, her identity was concealed, and she was only known as “Minor Victim One”. Since then, she has played a pivotal role in exposing Epstein’s crimes.
She is now calling on Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, and his close family members to give evidence in relation to events he has always denied took place.
Lacerda said: “I hope he has the b***s to face up to what he did and answer the questions. Why shouldn't he? If I myself got accused of something this outrageous, I would want to go and at least clear my name. Clear up your name. And if you did do any wrongdoing, own up to it.
“You have a family. You have daughters. You have daughters that have daughters. OK. If you know this is something that you’ve done in the past and you regret it, just say it to the world. What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen now?”
Lacerda added that she believes Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, along with his daughters, should be subpoenaed to give evidence.
She said: “It would be the right thing to do for them to get subpoenaed. He said that he was having pizza with his daughters, right, if I’m not mistaken. So, it would be nice to get some transparency there, and I would hope that his daughters would speak. They would be truthful about it.
“We need to stop protecting people because they are our family. We need to start protecting people that are getting hurt by your family.”
Lacerda spoke in detail about the power Epstein held over her and his other victims. She said: “As a young girl coming from a third-world country, you just want to make it in the United States of America, and I was like, this is something that he could do for me.
“He said he owned the government, he owned the banks, he owned everybody. He knew that I needed money and he knew that I needed to be legal in that country. And I think he always warned me too, like, well, you know, you’re an immigrant. Just kind of like, don’t mess with me, because I know you’re an immigrant and I’m very powerful.
“Within that year, I think after four or five months seeing him, he raped me and then I was locked in. It was like almost a mafia.”
Lacerda was also particularly vulnerable as she had a history of trauma, having been abused by a family member from the age of just 8 years old.
“I said, this is not that bad. This man just wants my shirt off, you know. He had pictures on his vanity. He had Bill Clinton, he had Prince Andrew. I was like, wow, this guy is somebody.”
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