Epstein survivor family claims GOP lawmaker’s staff ignored

The family of Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in 2025, is claiming that the office of Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO) brushed off a request to meet with their congressman to discuss a bill compelling the release of the Epstein files.

Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, appeared in a new advertisement Monday for Crank’s Democratic challenger, Jessica Killin, slamming Crank and accusing him over running cover for President Donald Trump. The pair lives in Colorado’s 5th District, which Crank represents.

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In the ad released Monday, the Roberts family claims Crank was “covering up Epstein’s crimes to protect Donald Trump.”

“Jeff Crank covered up Epstein’s crimes to protect Donald Trump,” Sky Roberts said in the ad, which was released in coordination with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “He has no business being in Congress.”

Sky and Amanda Roberts also held a press conference Monday with Killin, where they said the staff laughed at one of their attempts to meet with Crank or his office.

They also said the office stopped responding to requests to meet after an initial meeting, despite multiple tries to discuss the matter further. The Washington Examiner obtained text screenshots, which show a staffer replying with a “haha” reaction when the Robertses provided their availability to meet.

“We went to Capitol Hill and pushed for the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Sky Roberts said Monday afternoon. “Then we came home to Colorado Springs and asked our own Congressman Jeff Crank to stand with us. We met with his staff, and they promised to follow up. We got silence. When we brought the petition to his office, they locked the doors.”

The meeting with Crank’s staff occurred in September in the district, while the congressman was in D.C. for the session.

Last year, the two stood outside Crank’s office in Colorado Springs and urged the congressman to support the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Crank ultimately voted for the legislation last year after President Donald Trump endorsed it, but he was not among the four House Republicans who joined Democrats in forcing a vote on the legislation through a discharge petition.

“Let’s be clear: Jeff Crank did not have the courage to do the right thing until he got permission from Donald Trump, and that’s what we’re talking about today,” Killin said at the press conference.

Giuffre’s brother said this was not a partisan issue, adding that he supports Killin because she “chose to listen.”

Crank’s campaign hit back when the Washington Examiner asked for comment.

“It is deeply unfortunate that Washington Lobbyist Jessica Killin is preying on a grieving family with the help of the Washington Democrats,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement. “Congressman Crank voted to release the Epstein files in the only up or down vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. Lobbyist Jessica Killin worked as Deputy Assistant to President Joe Biden whose White House sat on these files for years. It took a Republican Congress to release these files and provide the first transparency into this issue. The statements contained in this ad are intentionally vague, and are purposefully so, because the fact pattern does not support desperate Lobbyist Jessica Killin’s desired political attack.”

The office also said they received an email from an anti-human trafficking group after the Epstein files bill passed, declaring the meeting unnecessary and thanking Crank for supporting the files’ release.

Killin, an army veteran and former chief of staff to former second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, faces Crank in the November elections for a seat that President Donald Trump won by 9 points in 2024. The district, which encompasses the state’s second-largest city of Colorado Springs, was also the fastest-trending Democratic seat in the country following the 2024 election, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

The ad and accusations are the latest example of how the Epstein files have become a thorny political issue for Republicans. Politico reported Monday that nearly 70 different ads mentioning Epstein have aired this cycle to the tune of more than $36 million.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act passed the House 427-1 after the president expressed his support, despite months of pushing against the legislation. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Nancy Mace (R-SC), and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene were the four Republicans to help force GOP leadership to vote on the bill.

Meanwhile, Massie introduced a discharge petition last month for the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, a follow-up to his previous bill that forced the release of the files last year. The new proposal was prompted after lawmakers reported materials are still being withheld, and it would allow state attorneys general, prosecutors, and victims to sue for not releasing certain records, as well as provide unredacted documents to victims who request them. The petition is nearing a majority of signatures, which would force the bill to be voted on.

Giuffre, one of the most outspoken survivors of Epstein’s abuse, died by suicide in April of 2025, just months before her book, Nobody’s Girl, was released. The book detailed how she met Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate and girlfriend at the time, as well as the abuse she said she experienced.

Giuffre reached a settlement with Epstein in 2009, dropping her lawsuit in exchange for $500,000 and “other valuable consideration.”