BREAKING: What Happened When an Epstein Survivor Confronted GOP Rep. Hageman boarding a Flight
A GOP Congresswoman Said Yes — But to the Wrong Epstein Bill
Welcome back to The Red Letter.
This story first broke at 12:29 p.m. on Thursday. I shared it with you right away, and I’ve since updated it with new information. Please see the editor’s note below.
It’s a simple story, really: a woman traveling near the front of the plane and a woman sitting in the back. The woman in the back, a survivor of one of the most powerful predators of our time, hoped that by telling her story, the woman in front would use her power to vote for justice. Instead, she was spun by a smooth-talking politician with a shiny pin on her lapel, heading back to her district.
Epstein survivor Marijke Chartouni was waiting to board a connecting flight from Washington through Chicago alongside Republican Harriet Hageman, who was on her way home to Wyoming, a state once represented by Liz Cheney until she dared to stare down Donald Trump over January 6. Hageman was once celebrated as the MAGA slayer who took down establishment Cheney.
But just two cycles later, you’ll see Hageman has become very much part of the establishment herself, and perhaps in a darker way.
“A politician I recognize just gave me a long look,” Chartouni texted me in real time Thursday morning.
Chartouni was in Washington to support her survivor sisters at a rally outside the Capitol for Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky) bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which would compel the Attorney General to release all unclassified Department of Justice records related to the Epstein case. A thoughtful but timid woman, Chartouni soon realized that the politician she recognized was Hageman. I’ve know her since we worked on the Broken: Jeffrey Epstein podcast together, traveling around the country, trying to put the pieces together of this massive cover-up.
They were on the same flight. And she decided this was her chance, one-on-one time with a Republican lawmaker. After all, Massie said they needed just two more Republicans to bypass Speaker Mike Johnson and force a House vote.
This was Chartouni’s moment to make history. To make her plea in person. Maybe Hageman had missed their rally on the lawn. Maybe she needed to see that Epstein’s victims are real human beings, not a “Democratic hoax,” as Trump once called them.
After summoning her courage, Chartouni texted me:
“I did it. She said yes. I got all teary.”
When I called her, she was still crying. She believed she had convinced a Republican — one of the many under pressure from Trump’s team, who warned members that voting for Massie’s bill would be seen as “a very hostile act to the administration” — to do the right thing.
“I was just hoping if she saw me, that might be something,” Chartouni told me.
Hageman asked her name, where she lived, reassured her it was okay to be upset, and then crucially told her she had “voted for the bill.” But she didn’t say which one.
Chartouni was so overjoyed she even followed Hageman’s aide, who boarded in coach, to offer another tearful thank-you after Hageman slipped into her seat.
But as this unfolded, I did a quick search. Hageman hadn’t joined the three other female Republican renegades — Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace — who signed the discharge petition.
And then it clicked. Hageman meant she had voted for Johnson’s slick maneuver, a measure to punt the issue back to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, that is handling the so-called “Epstein probe.”
It was hard to break this to Chartouni. She had just been spun by a politician. That’s something I’m used to as a journalist, but she’s not. And it felt deeply unfair. I suggested she go back and clarify, but she told me:
“I think she’s hiding.”
Frankly, I’d be hiding too if I were her.
A spokesperson for Hageman said “When she was asked in the airport about her vote, Congresswoman Hageman explained she had voted to require the Oversight Committee keep the investigation moving and release all unclassified documents. That’s how she voted and that’s what she said.”
Meanwhile, Speaker Johnson announced Massie’s “superfluous” efforts likely won’t get the two extra Republicans needed. Massie told POLITICO Thursday morning:
“They’re using everything they got. Jim Braid is calling … Jeff Freeland is calling, James Blair is calling. In some cases, the president is talking to people.”
These are Trump’s legislative affairs lieutenants, twisting arms to protect their boss.
And so this becomes yet another heartbreaking moment in the Epstein saga.
This piece was updated at 3:41 p.m. on Thursday to clarify that Hageman was seated in row eight, not in first class as initially reported, even though she was among the first passengers to board. It also reflects that the Oversight Committee has begun its probe and has since subpoenaed former US Attorney Alex Acosta after facing criticism for not originally including him on the list.
How can ANY female congressperson NOT vote for Massey and Khanna's bill to release the Epstein documents? How can any male congressperson not support this bill and then look their wife, mother, sister, aunts, girlfriend(s), and constituents in the eye without feeling shame? I am sure there are plenty of their constituents that have been sexually assaulted who expect justice for these victims in particular, and all women in general. This should not be a political issue whatsoever, unless, of course, they are trying to protect a friend, family member, colleague, or themselves from being exposed. They certainly ARE NOT protecting the victims, ESPECIALLY when it is the victims themselves that are asking for the release of the files. The truth will eventually come out. Do these congress critters really want to be on the wrong side of history on this when it does? How will Harriet Hageman spin it then?
Be a pitbull going after a a bone, Tara! Sic 'em!
What a gutless person. This infuriated me, but of course doesn’t surprise me.