LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Among the guests at the State of the Union address was Annie Farmer. She's one of the women who testified against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. She says they sexually abused her when she was 16 years old. Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California invited her to the Capitol to hear the speech in person, and Annie Farmer joins us now. Annie, good morning and welcome back to the program.
ANNIE FARMER: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
FADEL: So, you know, the president was not expected to mention Epstein. He didn't mention Epstein. I want to first ask why you felt it was important that you be in that room as he spoke, even though he wasn't planning to talk about this?
FARMER: Yeah. I think that many of us felt that we wanted to be there just as a reminder to Trump and to other elected officials, you know, of the promises that were made in the Transparency Act legislation and the, honestly, broken promises, at this point, their lack of willingness to follow the law and that we're not going anywhere. We still are planning on, you know, pushing forward for justice.
FADEL: You say broken promises. The Justice Department says it's finished releasing Epstein files, that there's nothing more to see. When you talk about broken promises and what's missing, what are you referring to?
FARMER: Well, you know, we've - keep hearing this number that there's less than half of the files that were identified by the DOJ as relevant to this case have actually been released. You know, NPR reported yesterday on some of the things that appear to be missing. You know, I've always said, you know, from what my sister, Maria Farmer, has shared with me about the report she made versus what we have seen so far, we believe there's, you know, more missing in regards to that. But also, just, you know, what has been released so far is completely unsatisfactory. There are redactions that are still there that appear to be protecting the powerful and protecting perpetrators. And not even, you know, congresspeople who go to see the unredacted version can see those. It still is redacted. And, you know, there were many, many errors made and continue to be survivor information that is not redacted that should be.
FADEL: And that reporting from NPR you mentioned is in relation to what seemed to be missing pages around Trump and Epstein and an underage girl. Now, while you were surrounded by lawmakers, did you have any conversations with any of them that might give you and other survivors reason to hope that more will happen in terms of documents being released, in terms of prosecutions as a result of these releases?
FARMER: Well, you know, in speaking, you know, with Robert Garcia yesterday, you know, we talked about the fact that this investigation is far from over, about the work that the House Oversight Committee is doing and that they plan on continuing to do that. I think many of us recognize this could be a long road, and it may take, you know, a change in leadership in certain positions for there to be more truth, you know, that does come out that hopefully will lead to additional prosecutions.
FADEL: You know, I want to ask because we've seen Prince Andrew. Now he was arrested. That's happening in another country. Are you surprised that that type of thing hasn't happened here as a result of these releases?
FARMER: I just want to say the former Prince Andrew.
FADEL: Former.
FARMER: I think that's an important thing to say...
FADEL: Former Prince Andrew. Yes, definitely.
FARMER: ...Right? And because...
FADEL: Former Prince Andrew stripped of his title over this as well.
FARMER: Stripped of his title. Right. And it's so important because, you know, those - there are different types of accountability, and that was an important one. But then when we saw his arrest, and, you know, we learned of what we're anticipating to be a prosecution for the misuse of power in his office, I think that we all did then think, why are we not seeing more of that here? We have seen, you know, certainly, people face, you know, loss of professional positions and, you know, other types of prestige, but I think we will - are waiting for more of that type of accountability in the U.S.
FADEL: And last night, as you sat in that room, I mean, what was going through your mind as the president spoke, and you were in this hall of power?
FARMER: Yeah. It was just - it was fairly surreal, honestly. There was this focus on, you know, winning his - the - his perspective on the winning that's happening. And it just really was in contrast to my own experience and observations of what's happening in this country and what's happened in this case.
FADEL: Annie Farmer, thank you for coming back on the program. We appreciate it.
FARMER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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