Blanche meets Epstein survivors after Tillis demand
REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks during Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be attorney general, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN
Witness Jennifer Bos reacts, as a woman sitting behind her holds a picture of Bos’ daughter Megan, who was killed by an undocumented immigrant, during the second day of Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for U.S. Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON >> Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche met with victims of late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and their lawyers on Thursday, with one survivor saying after the meeting that Blanche failed to show good faith or restore trust.
The meeting at the Justice Department came as Blanche faces a contentious vote on his nomination in the Senate. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, a key vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said earlier on Thursday he would not vote to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general unless Blanche met with victims of Epstein and their lawyers. Tillis is one of two key Republican senators threatening to derail Blanche’s confirmation.
Democrats on the committee have pledged to uniformly oppose Blanche, which means the acting attorney general cannot afford to lose even one Republican lawmaker.
Dani Bensky, an Epstein survivor who testified on Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the meeting with Blanche was insufficient and that he treated it “as a mere ‘check-the-box’ exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation.”
“He danced around his wording, repeatedly interrupted us and could not commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith or begin to restore trust,” Bensky said in a statement, saying that Blanche offered no credible plan to investigate and pursue accountability beyond Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
“I hope Senator Tillis will recognize that this meeting was insufficient,” Bensky said, urging Tillis and other senators to vote no on Blanche’s confirmation. A group of Epstein survivors previously said they had requested meetings with Blanche for months but did not hear back. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that Blanche had “done an excellent job as acting Attorney General and will continue doing so as Attorney General.”
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Tough questions
In the first day of his confirmation hearing, Blanche faced difficult questioning and criticism from Democrats and some Republicans over the Department of Justice’s rollout of the Epstein files, which left some victims’ names and photos unredacted.
Lawmakers also grilled Blanche on the creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and resolution that gave Trump and his associates broad tax-audit immunity.
Both of those deals emerged from a settlement agreement over a $10 billion lawsuit Trump brought against the IRS.
The fund and the tax immunity resolution drew bipartisan fury, as lawmakers argued that both were an effort to enrich Trump and his allies. In the wake of the backlash, Blanche told lawmakers that the fund was dead, but he has since declined to kill the fund in writing.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn told Reuters on Wednesday that he was still weighing his vote because it was not clear to him that the fund had really been abandoned.
