“SHE’S GONE — BUT HER WORDS ARE STILL COMING FOR THEM.” The lights went out years ago. But Virginia Giuffre’s truth refused to die with her. Her memoir — written in fire, grief, and courage — names…

In fact, her father actually takes her into the camper van and allegedly beats her inside there. What did she take away from that moment? Why did that stand out?

Amy Wallace:

When you grow up in a world where adult men rape children and nobody does anything about it, then you start to believe that’s how the world actually is.

So the thought of escaping from Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and — she didn’t think the world outside was any different. The world she had grown up in, that kept happening to her. And so there was this psychic manipulation that we can talk about more in terms of what Epstein and Maxwell did to keep the girls close.

In Virginia’s case, he threatened her with a picture of her beloved younger brother Sky and said: We know where he goes to school. Here’s a picture we took of him at school. And if you ever turn on me, if you ever turn me in, we will hurt him.

So that was going to keep her in place.

Amna Nawaz:

By the time she’s 16, she’s dropped out of high school. She’s working different retail jobs trying to make ends meet, living with a boyfriend that’s not going anywhere, it sounds like.

And her father, I learned in the book, worked for Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago as a maintenance man, gets her a job, an hourly job working as a locker room attendant at the spa. She wants to go on to have a career as a massage therapist, right?

This is where she comes into contact with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. How do they bring her into their world?

Amy Wallace:

She thinks: Wow, this is a cool life. Maybe I’d like to become a masseuse. I don’t know, but I don’t know anything about it.

So she takes a book out of the library about anatomy. And she’s reading it at the front desk of the spa one day when it’s a quiet moment. And by the time Ghislaine gets there, she’s reading this book.

You’re so interested in anatomy? Would you like to become a masseuse? Are you a masseuse? Well, I know a wealthy man. He would love to train you. Come today. Come this very afternoon, and I will introduce you to him.

And that very day, she goes, and both Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse her in the massage room.

Amna Nawaz:

She goes on to be repeatedly abused by Epstein, by Maxwell, by a number of people in their circles. She’s named some of them before. She’s named Prince Andrew before, for sure. She details multiple allegations here of his assaults against her. And he has since been stripped of his royal title since the book came out and these details were revealed.

I have to wonder, has there ever been any legal accountability, any attempt at legal accountability with the people that she’s named before and now in this book?

Amy Wallace:

Well, this is why everybody’s clamoring for the Epstein files, what we are now calling the Epstein files. I don’t think anyone exactly knows how voluminous they are. They may be 12 file cabinets. They may have videotapes in them. We’re not totally sure.

But I know what Virginia told the FBI,and she did it repeatedly. The allegations were made. She’s been deposed several times, and those depositions are public. And there are many, many men named in those public depositions. Not all of them are in the book, but the names are out there.

And, basically, what’s happened so far is, those men have had their publicist issue statements saying, we deny it. And that’s as far as it’s gone.

Amna Nawaz:

Virginia documents in the book the details that Epstein saved, photos, videotapes, presumably lists and other documentation somewhere else.

Is it fair to assume all of this is in the hands of the authorities? And in saying, release the Epstein files, what do you think would be learned from that?

Amy Wallace:

Well, I think there should be a trove of information. We also know from Virginia’s account that there were video cameras in that Manhattan townhouse in all of the private spaces, I believe even in the bathrooms. So those videotapes would theoretically not just let you know the horrors that went on in the house, but they might even identify some of the men.

He was surprised when he was picked up at Teterboro Airport and arrested him. They were also battering in the door and going into that Manhattan townhouse. So that gives me hope that there were things that were confiscated from that house.

Amna Nawaz:

In terms of what’s known and unknown, she details what’s probably one of her most brutal assaults ever, and she says that it happened at the hands of a powerful prime minister. She says that she was choked and that she was beaten, bloodied, and it was a real turning point for her as well.

He’s not named in the book. I wonder why not and if there’s any potential accountability there.

Amy Wallace:

It really, really mattered to hold these people accountable. And so she came forward to the authorities, and they know those names. And…

Amna Nawaz: