Several Democratic lawmakers have invited victims of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to attend President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated State of the Union address as their guests on Tuesday night. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, have announced plans to host Epstein survivors at the speech, as have at least half a dozen otherDemocrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who coauthored a law requiring that all government files related to Epstein be made public. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Trump and his Administration have faced fierce criticism from both Democrats and Republicans over their handling of Epstein’s case. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has released millions of documents connected to Epstein in recent months after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. But lawmakers have criticized the DOJ over delays in the process—despite the law requiring that all the documents be made public by Dec. 19—and for redacting the names of several powerful individuals apparently tied to the disgraced financier in the released files while failing to conceal photos and potentially identifying information of some of Epstein’s victims.“Trump says he’s going to give a long speech tonight, but there’s one thing he refuses to talk about: the Epstein files,” Schumer said at a press conference on Tuesday with other Democratic lawmakers and Epstein victims. “Trump campaigned on releasing the files, but now one year into his presidency he calls them a hoax. Shame on him. He says the American people need to move on.” Turning to some of the survivors present at the conference, he added, “We’re not moving on, are we? … When President Trump looks into the crowd tonight to give his speech, he will also look into the faces of the survivors behind me.”Read more: How Democrats Are Planning to Protest Trump’s State of the UnionThe Senate Minority Leader said in a statement on Monday that he would bring Dani Bensky, who he described as “a New Yorker and survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse” to the State of the Union “to demand the truth.” “Dani has turned unimaginable pain into unrelenting advocacy, calling on President Trump to release every file and follow the law,” he said.Bensky, who has accused Epstein of abusing her after she met the disgraced financier at the age of 17 when she was a ballerina, called for the full release of the so-called Epstein files in a statement included in the press release from Schumer’s office. “My survivor sisters and I have been fighting for transparency and accountability,” Bensky said. “Meanwhile, Donald Trump calls us a hoax, the laws of the Transparency Act have been broken, and we have had personal identifying information exposed. Trump and his DOJ continue to coverup and protect perpetrators. We need to release of all files.” At Tuesday’s press conference, Bensky, speaking after Schumer, said the government was “no better” than Epstein himself. Jeffries announced on Tuesday that he would host Marina Lacerda, an Epstein survivor who is attending the speech as a guest of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, at the event in addition to several people he has invited.“As a result of the courageous advocacy of Marina Lacerda and other Epstein survivors, the fight for transparency and accountability is alive and well,” Jeffries said in a statement. “The House Minority leader noted that Lacerda is “one of numerous brave survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific abuse” invited to the address by the Democratic Women’s Caucus.Read more: How to Watch Trump’s State of the UnionMultiple members of the caucus who are not planning to attend the speech themselves have nonetheless extended invitations to Epstein survivors, including Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. “Accountability is my north star,” Dexter said in a statement. “I’m inviting Lisa Phillips, one of the many brave women who survived Epstein’s abuse, to attend the State of the Union on my behalf. Her presence will send a clear message: Epstein survivors will not be silenced. The powerful will not be protected. Our government will be accountable to the people it serves.”Jayapal announced that she would be inviting Marijke Chartouni, who is one of her constituents. “Thirty years after the FBI first ignored reports of Epstein’s crimes, Pam Bondi’s Justice Department continues to fiddle rather than hold perpetrators to account — even as other countries act decisively,” said Chartouni in a statement included in the announcement from Jayapal’s office. “I am attending the State of the Union to remind the House, the Senate, and the Executive that survivors will not remain silent through this continued institutional failure.”Democratic Women’s Caucus chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, similarly announced on Monday that while she would not attend the address, Epstein survivor and human trafficking specialist Elizabeth Stein would join her in Washington, D.C., for the day.Dexter, Jayapal, and Fernández are among a number of Democrats who are skipping Trump’s speech in a show of protest. Jayapal is one of several who is instead set to attend a counterprogramming event called the “People’s State of the Union” during Trump’s address.Also among those attending the counterprogramming rally is Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who announced on Monday that he was inviting Annie Farmer, who he described in a statement as “a courageous survivor of Epstein’s abuse,” to attend Trump’s address.“I just want to remind the President and the Attorney General that they are right now in violation of the law. And when the President makes a speech tonight, he is going to know that looking back at him will be numerous survivors of Epstein’s abuse, and that he is facilitating the single largest cover up in modern American history,” Garcia said at the press conference on Tuesday. Khanna said that he was bringing Haley Robson, a survivor who has advocated for the release of the Epstein files on Capitol Hill alongside Khanna; Democratic Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who also sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act; and other Epstein survivors. “Haley’s courageous fight is proof that this isn’t about politics, it’s about exposing America’s two-tiered system of justice and bringing accountability to the Epstein class involved in the horrific abuse of young girls. She and her fellow survivors’ bravery was the catalyst for changing a rotten system and finally standing up for humanity and American values,” said Khanna, whom Robson called “a man who I have immense respect and admiration for,” in a statement. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee and a vocal critic of the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files’ release, and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia plan to bring the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent survivors who died by suicide in April, to Trump’s address. Sky and Amanda Roberts, Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, respectively, will watch from the gallery above the House Floor during Trump’s speech, according to a release from the lawmakers. “Virginia Roberts Giuffre bravely pursued justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators of the horrific crimes committed against girls and young women by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and other upper-class abusers who took part in the pair’s vicious trafficking ring,” said Raskin. Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking operation.Subramanyam commended Giuffre for giving “a voice to the thousands of Epstein victims” before Congress’ investigation into Epstein. “It is an honor to bring Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s family as our guests for the State of the Union to be a visible reminder to Trump that we’re not giving in or giving up,” the Virginia lawmaker said.While Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico is not bringing one of Epstein’s victims to the address, she has invited state Rep. Andrea Romero, who successfully launched a “truth commission” to investigate Epstein’s activities on Zorro Ranch outside of Santa Fe in the state. A number of allegations of trafficking and sexual abuse at the ranch surfaced in the Justice Department’s latest Epstein files release.