Key GOP senator says Todd Blanche needs to meet with Epstein victims before winning his support
Key GOP Senator Says Todd Blanche Must Meet Epstein Victims First
Key GOP senator says Todd Blanche – A Key GOP senator says Todd Blanche needs to meet with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims before securing his support for the attorney general nomination. Sen. Thom Tillis, whose affirmative vote is crucial for advancing Blanche’s confirmation, announced Thursday that the meeting is a prerequisite for his backing of President Donald Trump’s pick. While Tillis expressed a favorable view of Blanche, he clarified that he has not yet finalized his decision on the nomination.
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Tillis emphasized the importance of this step. “This is a very important part of getting to yes,” the senator stated. He noted that Blanche had previously indicated willingness to meet with the victims, and Tillis expects this to happen within the next two weeks. “Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with them and counsel, I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present,” Tillis explained. He added that he anticipates the meeting will take place before he is prepared to vote to send the nomination out of committee.
Blanche Faces Scrutiny on Multiple Fronts
Blanche spent hours answering questions from the Senate panel on Wednesday. He acknowledged certain errors in the Justice Department’s vetting of the Epstein files while defending his overall handling of the case. A coalition of Epstein survivors has actively urged the Senate to reject Blanche’s nomination. On Thursday, victim Dani Bensky testified against the acting attorney general, with fellow survivors standing behind her holding photographs of themselves at the ages they were first abused.
Following Tillis’ remarks, a Justice Department spokesperson informed CNN that a meeting between Blanche and the survivors would be organized within two weeks. The outcome of Blanche’s nomination in the Judiciary Committee depends largely on two Republican senators who face no electoral consequences: Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas. Cornyn recently lost the Republican primary in his state to a Trump-endorsed opponent, while Tillis announced last year that he would not run for reelection.
Both senators have also emerged as prominent Republican critics of the Justice Department’s earlier proposal for a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund—a fund that Blanche declared “dead.” Cornyn told CNN on Thursday that following Blanche’s testimony, he believes the fund “still can be revived.” “I think what I confirmed is that the weaponization fund is, still can be revived, and so this idea that it’s somehow gone is just not true, in my opinion,” Cornyn said. Tillis indicated he needs to see a “work product” ensuring the fund won’t resurface. “There are very specific, measurable work products — not a wink and a nod and a handshake, but definable, ratified, executed agreements that will make me feel comfortable that this turkey of an idea is dead,” the senator told CNN.
The acting attorney general had to navigate carefully before the panel—reassuring Republicans that he would maintain his aggressive approach at the Justice Department while also signaling that Trump would not be able to interfere politically. Epstein survivors, including several who are currently in Washington, DC, to demonstrate their opposition to Blanche’s nomination, have been requesting a meeting for months. Some of them told CNN they were pleased to hear Tillis’ comments, though as of Thursday morning, they had not yet been contacted by the Justice Department to arrange such a meeting.
“Survivors feel seen and heard today. They have been harmed by this DOJ and specifically by Todd Blanche,” said Lauren Hersh, co-founder of World Without Exploitation, a group that works closely with Epstein survivors.
Hersh added that survivors would also welcome the opportunity to meet with any Republican senators who have yet to make up their minds on supporting Blanche. “We have requested meetings over and over and over again,” said Epstein survivor Liz Stein. Blanche on Wednesday defended the DOJ’s efforts to release the Epstein files, noting that while there were some redaction issues among the roughly 3 million files produced, those were addressed and corrected. “They took pains to apply appropriate redactions, there were mistakes that were made, and so approximately 1% of the redactions had to be fixed after we released the Epstein files,” Blanche said.
“That doesn’t excuse the mistakes of which I take responsibility, but it does mean that we tried to fix them.” Epstein victims, including Bensky on Thursday, have said those redactions came far too late after their personal information was shared with the public. For Thursday’s hearing, Republicans put forth former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who served under President George W. Bush; Jon Adler, the president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation; and Jennifer Bos, the mother of an Illinois woman whose body was allegedly abused by an undocumented immigrant.
Democrats on the committee called Elizabeth Oyer, who had served as a career pardon lawyer at DOJ before being fired by Blanche last year. Oyer, who sued over her ousting,
