Senators Pressure Todd Blanche to Meet With Epstein Abuse Victims

Senators Pressure Todd Blanche to Meet With Epstein Abuse Victims.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced mounting pressure Thursday to meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse, with questions about Blanche's handling of the release of the late sex offender's investigative files dominating the second day of his confirmation hearing. Blanche's refusal to meet with survivors emerged as a flashpoint during questioning Wednesday by ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois).

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) said at the hearing that he wanted Blanche to sit down with the survivors before he would vote to advance his attorney general nomination. "I'm trying to get to 'yes,' but this is a very important part of getting to 'yes,'" Tillis said. The other undecided Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said he agreed "it would be good" for Blanche to meet with the survivors. "It's a terrible situation because nobody can go back and fix what happened to these poor people," Cornyn said. "But I'm happy to have him meet with them."

In response to Durbin on Wednesday, Blanche initially said he was barred by ethical rules from meeting with survivors who had lawyers and offered instead for them to meet with a Justice Department staffer who had extensive experience prosecuting sex crimes.

The committee heard from a survivor of Epstein's abuse, Dani Bensky. "Todd Blanche has never attempted to listen to us, the crime victims," Bensky said. Fighting back tears at times, Bensky said Wednesday was the first time since the Epstein file release began last year that Blanche had ever floated the possibility of a meeting. "He simply ignored us for the past eight months," she said. No one from the Justice Department had contacted her as of Thursday, she added. Blanche, she said, had treated the file release as a "political crisis" and prioritized "reputational harm to the administration over survivors."

The committee also heard from one of the Republicans' witnesses, Jennifer Bos, who spoke about the death of her daughter. Bos praised Blanche and said she trusted him. "I 100% believe Todd Blanche will be the one who will deliver that justice," she said. Republicans also brought in former Attorney General John Ashcroft to testify in favor of Blanche.