'A slap in the face!' Jeffrey Epstein survivor blasts release of files and calls for redactions to be removed

Recalling how she suffered her own abuse at the hands of Epstein, Ms Lacerda said: "I met Jeffrey Epstein when I was 14 years old. It was not in the best way possible, and obviously it started out in a certain way, and it ended up in a horrible way.

"He was a very powerful person, he knew all these powerful people, and he made sure that we knew that. He made sure that we knew that he owned the banks, he owned the Government."

She added: "He knew things about the President, and he even told us, if I spoke up and said what I knew about the presidents and ex-presidents, it would be over.

"When we used to massage him, he used to be on phone with all these different types of powerful people, and he would make sure that he would be like, 'hey, I'm on the phone with such and such, say hello, I'm with a young, beautiful woman'. So it was more to brag. He was a bragger, he was a manipulator, and he was an aggressor."

Hitting out at the release of the files, Ms Lacerda declared the redactions on them are "utterly ridiculous"

She said: "It's only 10 per cent, and I've been saying it for the past few days, this is nothing compared to what's really supposed to be out there.

"And the redactions that were made are unbelievably ridiculous. Are we protecting the survivors or are we protecting powerful men?

"And I hope when the next few batches do come out, we still have some sort of hope that they are going to redact the names that need to be out there to put powerful men to justice."

Criticising the administration of President Donald Trump, Ms Lacerda told GB News that the release is a "slap in the face" to survivors.

She fumed: "I had faith in his administration, I really did. But with all these distractions that President Trump has put out on the 19th is ridiculous.

"It really is a slap in our face. We already been through this before when we went to the first press conference, he tried to silence us with airplanes.

"And now he is supposed to release the files, he is trying to silence us again, trying to put his name on the Kennedy Center, bombing Venezuela - I don't know what he's doing, but it has to stop.

"At this point we need clarification, we need transparency. We've had enough as survivors and the public, we need to put this to rest already. So I hope that the next batch of files that does come out, it is unredacted."

Asked by host Renee Hoenderkamp why she believes the files are being so redacted and released so slowly, Ms Lacerda responded: "I think it's slowly coming out because whoever's working under Trump is redacting those names heavily, and I don't mean the survivor's names. I mean these powerful elite men that need to be put out there.

"We need to all come together, not as just survivors, but the whole public, and we need to say stop. These predators need to stop doing what they're doing, and the only way is to redact the names. He needs to stop protecting these powerful men."

Criticising the lack of information alongside the photos released, she added: "The pictures that they put out yesterday, what are the pictures? Where are they from? Where, how, what time, what place?

"We have the picture of Bill Clinton in the pool with Ghislaine and another woman - where is this picture being taken? There is no context in any of this. We are being misinformed, everybody is confused, and if I was working for the DOJ (Department of Justice), I would be in there saying, 'hey, let's explain what is going on here, let's explain where and how this happened'."

Delivering a message to fellow victims and survivors of sexual abuse, Ms Lacerda told GB News: "The reason why I speak so loud and so clear, is I like to say to anybody who has ongoing abuse or has had a past abuse to not stay silent, not to be ashamed of it. There is nothing to be ashamed of, it is not your fault.

"Women, children get abused at the age of 10, eight, 12, 13, 14, 15, and then we have also women who get abused at the age of 30, 40, 50. Women get groomed, men get groomed. It is not our fault. My biggest thing is we need to start bringing awareness to setting boundaries as adults.

"As children, we need to understand what our boundaries are so that we are not put in this position, and when somebody wants to start the abuse, we can say, no, we are not allowing that. No, you will not speak to me like that. No, you will not touch me like that and that will prevent future abuse.

"So I say, do not stay silent, do not be ashamed. Speak up. Your voice is loud and you are being heard, especially the movement that we are making, and that is for all the survivors and for all ongoing victims."

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