Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche walked into a meeting Thursday with Jeffrey Epstein's victims; he walked out with their pointed opposition to his nomination as permanent AG still intact. The sit-down, pushed by GOP Sen. Thom Tillis as a condition for supporting Blanche's nomination to be attorney general, ran just over an hour at the Justice Department and was described by Blanche as "not all cordial." He told CNN survivors were seeking a form of justice he doesn't think he can deliver and urged them to share information with the FBI, promising to meet again.
Survivors and their advocates said that wasn't close to enough. Amanda Roberts, sister-in-law of the late Virginia Giuffre, called the meeting "deflating," saying Blanche offered no concrete commitments and seemed to be "checking a box." "We've been asking for this meeting, and it felt like he only had it because his hand was forced," she said. Survivor Dani Bensky accused him of dodging, interrupting, and asking them to re-report their trauma.
- Annie Farmer, another Epstein victim, told ABC News that she found Blanche "abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors—a marked contrast to his public testimony during his confirmation hearing." Farmer, who testified in Ghislaine Maxwell's trial, said she is "even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation as the United States' Attorney General."
Tillis praised Blanche online for holding the meeting , saying he appreciates "his willingness to directly engage and listen to" Epstein's victims, but he hasn't publicly committed his vote. For his nomination to advance, Blanche will need the support of every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee in a vote expected later this month, and Sen. John Cornyn is also skeptical.
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