WASHINGTON — A Republican senator whose support is critical to moving Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination forward said Thursday that he will not cast his vote until Blanche sits down with Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers.
Sen. Thom Tillis made the remarks one day after Blanche faced tough questions at his Senate confirmation hearing about how the Justice Department has handled millions of files tied to the Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
Tillis told reporters Thursday that he is favorably inclined toward Blanche but has not reached a final decision. He pointed to statements Blanche made Wednesday indicating a willingness to meet with Epstein’s accusers, and said he expects that meeting to take place before he is “willing to vote out of this committee.”
Shortly after Tillis spoke, Blanche arrived at a Senate office building and told reporters that an earlier attempt to meet with the accusers had fallen through. He said his team was working to find another time either later Thursday or on a different day.
“The Department of Justice will always meet with victims or their representatives, and if those victims or their representatives have evidence that anybody committed a crime — whether it has to do with Jeffrey Epstein or anybody else — we will of course move forward and investigate and prosecute,” Blanche said.
Earlier Thursday, Epstein accuser Dani Bensky addressed lawmakers directly, saying that women harmed by Epstein had tried to reach Blanche “through multiple channels and he never responded.”
“We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored,” Bensky said.
Blanche has disputed claims that the Justice Department has been dismissive of the late financier’s accusers. He said Wednesday that department officials have spoken with more than 30 representatives of the women as part of a broad review of the Epstein files.
Blanche has also stood behind the department’s phased release of the Epstein documents, even as that process ran into serious problems — including redaction errors that accidentally exposed nude photographs showing the faces of potential victims.
During his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Blanche said he accepts responsibility for those errors but noted that department attorneys were handed a “herculean task” to quickly sort through millions of files for public release. He said lawyers worked hard to protect the identities of the women involved and moved quickly to correct any mistakes.
“I am sorry that in about 1% of the documents mistakes were made,” Blanche said Wednesday. “But what I will say on top of that is we put tons of resources to rectifying those mistakes immediately, including pulling down documents within minutes of being informed that there were mistakes.”
