A survivor of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is publicly condemning former President Donald Trump and his administration for their failure to comply with a federal law requiring the full release of government documents related to the Epstein case.
Missed Deadline and Sloppy Rollout
Danielle Bensky, who says Epstein recruited and abused her when she was a teenage ballerina, appeared on MSNBC's MS NOW on Tuesday. She spoke with guest host Melissa Murray about the missed December 19 deadline legally mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Bensky argued the gradual, ongoing release of files has been deeply harmful.
"I think this rollout, first of all, was never meant to be a rollout," Bensky stated. "It was meant to be a hard deadline." She described the process as "sloppily" handled, citing improper redactions that have both exposed names that should be protected and obscured others without clear justification. "It's just incredibly frustrating to look through the files and not find what we're looking for at times," she added.
Political Pressure and Dismissive Response
The transparency act, which garnered bipartisan support, was signed into law by Trump following pressure. However, his administration has only released a fraction of the files, failing to meet the law's 30-day requirement. Epstein, who once called Trump a close friend, died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Bensky connected the delayed transparency to broader patterns of power. When asked if the process felt like another punishment, she agreed. "It does feel that way because those in power prey on the vulnerable," she said, calling that trait "at the heart of all exploitation."
She specifically referenced Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has allied with Epstein survivors. Greene recently announced her resignation from Congress and told The New York Times that Trump yelled at her over the phone in September after she vowed to name names of Epstein's associates on the House floor. According to Greene, Trump said his "friends will get hurt" and angrily rejected her idea to host survivors at the Oval Office, claiming they hadn't "done nothing to merit the honor."
The People's House and a National Issue
Bensky expressed outrage at this dismissal. "It feels like he's talking to Marjorie Taylor Greene about that we don't have the merit to be in the people's house," she told Murray. "This is not a country club with his name on the side of it."
She broadened the issue beyond the single case, noting the staggering statistic that one in four women in the U.S. experiences assault or abuse. "So when we say 'the people's house,' you're talking about survivors. They make up a huge portion of our country," Bensky emphasized. "It's not just about this one case."
The Trump campaign and the FBI under his administration have previously dismissed the notion of a secret "client list," with Trump calling the case a "hoax." For survivors like Bensky, the fight for full transparency and accountability continues to be met with obstruction and delay.
