Epstein victims blast Trump nominee Todd Blanche after meeting

Victims of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein attacked Todd Blanche after meeting with the acting attorney general at the Justice Department, Senator Thom Tillis, encouraged Blanche to seek Senate confirmation as the permanent attorney general of the United States.

Victims described Blanche as condescending and evasive and said she appeared willing to speak to them face-to-face on Thursday afternoon only for the U.S. confirmation of her candidacy by President Donald Trump. Senate Judiciary Committee.

“After meeting with Todd Blanche, I feel even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation as U.S. Attorney General,” Annie Farmer, one of the victims, said in a statement Thursday night.

“I found him abrasive, condescending, and deliberately neutral toward survivors, a marked contrast to his public testimony during his confirmation hearing,” Farmer said. “While he was quick to point out the failures of previous administrations, he refused to take responsibility for mistakes made under his leadership.”

But Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said he appreciated Blanche’s participation, potentially paving the way for Tillis to vote for his own nomination.

Tillis had warned the full Senate earlier Thursday that he was not willing to vote to advance the nomination until Blanche had met with the victims of Epstein.

“I expect this meeting to happen before I am willing to vote to leave the committee,” Tillis said Thursday morning.

If Tillis or another of the 11 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee votes against Blanche, it could eliminate her chances of confirmation, as all 10 Democrats on the panel are expected to vote against her. The death of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina last weekend left a Republican seat on the committee vacant.

Blanche can continue to serve as acting AG unless confirmed by the Senate.

The Justice Department said Friday morning that Blanche had a “productive initial meeting” with the small group of victims.

But Blanche told reporters after the meeting: “He wasn’t very friendly.”

“Because there’s one thing I don’t think I can give them, and that’s some kind of justice,” Blanche said, according to the Associated Press. “And I want to be able to get justice through prosecution, and maybe we can prosecute at some point.”

“I don’t know,” he added.

Some victims criticized Blanche and the Justice Department for unsuccessfully releasing documents containing personally identifying information about Epstein survivors and refusing to interview them earlier.

Blanche was nominated as attorney general after Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in April over her handling of the Epstein files.

Liz Stein, another survivor of Epstein, described meeting Blanche as “demoralizing” in an interview on MS NOW’s “The Weeknight.”

“This had absolutely nothing to do with us and everything to do with Blanche checking a box to get promoted,” Stein said.

Dani Bensky, who testified against Blanche’s nomination to the Judiciary Committee earlier Thursday, said in a statement: “Unfortunately, Todd Blanche viewed the meeting as a ‘check the box’ exercise aimed at getting votes for his confirmation.”

“He danced around his own words, repeatedly interrupted us, and failed to commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith or begin to rebuild trust,” Bensky said.

Bensky criticized Blanche for not adequately explaining why the Justice Department “disclosed identities and images of victims” in initial releases of the Epstein files.

“And he has not presented a credible plan to pursue investigation and accountability outside of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,” Epstein’s convicted accomplice said.

“I hope Senator Tillis realizes that this meeting was inadequate,” Bensky said. “Todd Blanche is not qualified to serve as attorney general.”

Amanda Roberts, the sister-in-law of Epstein’s late victim Virginia Giuffre, told CNN in an interview that “she felt like she only had this because her hand was forced.”

But Tillis is a Publish on X “I commend Todd Blanche for doing what his predecessors never did in the last two decades: He met with the victims of Epstein’s horrific crimes,” he wrote after the meeting.

“I appreciate your willingness to engage with them directly and listen to them,” Tillis wrote.

A DOJ spokesperson said in an email to CNBC on Friday: “Acting Attorney General Blanche, senior Justice Department officials, FBI special agents, and victim services representatives met with Epstein victims [Thursday] and we had a productive initial discussion.”

“Acting AG Blanche answered questions and explained what was needed for the investigations to move forward,” the statement said.

“Although some victims said they did not reach out to the FBI under this administration, he encouraged victims to meet with FBI investigators as a next step, and participants talked about scheduling interviews with agents after the meeting,” the spokesperson said. “The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring justice for all victims of human trafficking and sex crimes.”

It is unclear whether Tillis will vote to advance Blanche’s nomination from the Judiciary Committee.

Both he and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, one of the Republicans on the panel, separately expressed concern about the creation of the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “War on Guns” fund under Blanche.

The fund, which purported to compensate victims of the Justice Department’s prosecutorial overreach, was established as part of Trump’s controversial settlement of his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the illegal leaking of his tax records by an IRS contractor.

Backlash from Republican senators and others led Blanche to tell a House subcommittee in June that the fund was dead.

But Tillis, Cornyn and other critics of the fund have expressed concern that the Trump administration could revive it.