DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — A traveling exhibit featuring more than three and a half million pages from the Jeffrey Epstein files came to Des Moines Tuesday, drawing survivors, their families and an Iowa congressional candidate calling for more accountability from lawmakers ahead of the November elections.
The exhibit displays copies of pages from the federal investigation into Epstein. The Department of Justice blacked out parts of the pages and redacted some information before releasing them publicly.
It is the first exhibit from the Institute for Primary Facts, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that has focused attention on what it says is the previous connection between President Donald Trump and Epstein. Trump has never been charged with a crime and has denied that he sexually abused any women through his involvement with Epstein.
Sky Roberts, the brother of Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre, said lawmakers need to prosecute everyone who committed a crime to protect future generations.
“What we need are congressional leaders that are willing to have a backbone. That are willing to stand up for survivors, that are willing to listen to our stories and that are willing to act,” Roberts said.
“What does this mean for our next generation? What kind of example are setting for our daughters and our children if we aren’t willing to stand up to some of the most rich and powerful out there and say just because you have money, just because you have power, that buys you a set of different rules,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the exhibit should push visitors to ask why more hasn’t been done to prosecute Epstein’s business associates who abused women.
“You walk by these files and you question what’s behind these pages, and quite honestly it’s a crime scene,” Roberts said.
Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott, who is running for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, toured the exhibit with survivors and their families.
“We need elected leaders to stand up for what’s right and make sure the truth is told and that powerful people are held accountable for their crimes,” Trone Garriott said.
Trone Garriott criticized Iowa Republicans for not backing a Democrat-led resolution in Congress that would have forced a floor vote on releasing the files. That measure failed, but a separate bill to release the files later passed with support from all four of Iowa’s representatives.
A campaign spokesperson for Republican Rep. Zach Nunn said, “Zach Nunn has led to hold abusers accountable and fight human trafficking. He voted to release the Epstein Files to deliver transparency to the American people and justice for victims.”
Roberts and other survivors said they want more of the Epstein files released publicly. The Epstein Files Transparency Act II is a second bill in Congress that would force the Department of Justice to release more Epstein files.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed members for another extended break, meaning House members will not vote on that or any other bills until after the midterm elections in November.
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