A survivor of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was left speechless during a live television interview when questioned about former President Donald Trump's knowledge of the financier's activities.
An Interview Takes an Unexpected Turn
Sharlene Rochard was carefully recounting her experience of meeting Epstein as a young model during an appearance on MSNOW with host Jen Psaki. The conversation proceeded calmly until Psaki shifted the focus to parties Rochard attended as a teenager at Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
The tone changed dramatically when Psaki posed a direct question to the survivor. "I just have to ask if you think [Trump] was aware of that arrangement," the host said. The query was met with several seconds of excruciating silence from Rochard, who appeared visibly uncomfortable.
A Strained and Emotional Response
After the prolonged pause, Rochard stammered, "Um... I-I don't know if he was aware," before her voice trailed off. She then added, "Actually, I can't answer that. I'm sorry."
Psaki quickly moved to contextualise the difficulty of the question, noting that Rochard had been a teenager at the time. "And I think this is important for people to understand that people were in their teens and were young, and you were a - you were a young model and you were - you were handled by a predator," Psaki stated.
The interview grew more intense when Psaki asked Rochard if she had been trafficked. The survivor turned to her fellow guests for support—the brother and sister-in-law of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre's sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, advised Rochard she could confirm she was trafficked but cautioned her against "naming names."
The Wider Context of the Survivors' Fight
Psaki reassured Rochard, saying, "You only share what you want to share. You don’t have to be sorry for anything." She emphasised the importance of understanding that the scandal extended beyond one or two individuals.
Rochard, who was telling her story publicly for the first time, fell silent again, her voice shaking with emotion as she eventually managed to respond. "Terrible things had happened to me within my time with - dealing with Jeffrey Epstein," she revealed. "I had encounters with people that I would rather not have."
The interview occurred on the same day Rochard was seen protesting with other survivors outside the US Capitol Building. They were demanding the release of all investigation materials related to the late financier ahead of a House vote.
Trump, who had a known social and professional relationship with Epstein during the 1990s and 2000s and was photographed with him at Mar-a-Lago, has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes.
