A bipartisan group of lawmakers stood outside the US Capitol on Wednesday alongside nearly a dozen women who said they’d been abused by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with a poignant message: This is not a hoax.

That included a direct plea from one of the survivors, Anouska de Georgiou, to the president: “President Trump, you have so much influence and power in this situation. Please use that influence and power to help us.