WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican senator whose vote Todd Blanche needs to advance his nomination as attorney general suggested Thursday that his support hinges on Blanche first meeting with Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers.
Sen. Thom Tillis’ comments came a day after Blanche was pressed during his confirmation hearing over the Justice Department’s handling of millions of files related to Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation.
Tillis said Thursday that he has a “positive predisposition” toward Blanche but has not made up his mind. Tillis pointed to Blanche’s remarks Wednesday expressing a willingness to meet Epstein’s accusers, and added that he expects such a meeting to occur before he’s “willing to vote out of this committee.”
Shortly after Tillis’ remarks, Blanche arrived at a Senate office building, where Blanche told reporters he had hoped to meet with Epstein accusers but “it didn’t work out.” Blanche said they were trying to find another time later Thursday or another day to schedule the meeting.
“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.
One Epstein accuser, Dani Bensky, told lawmakers earlier Thursday that women harmed by Epstein repeatedly asked to meet with Blanche “through multiple channels and he never responded.”
“We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored,” Bensky said.
Blanche has pushed back on suggestions that the Justice Department has been dismissive of the late financier’s accusers, saying Wednesday that officials have spoken with more than 30 representatives of the women over the course of its sweeping review of the files.
Blanche has also defended the department’s staggered release of the Epstein files, a process beset by problems, including redaction errors that left exposed nude photos showing the faces of potential victims.
Blanche said during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he takes responsibility for mistakes that were made, but noted that department lawyers were given a “herculean task” to quickly review millions of files for release. Blanche said department lawyers took pains to protect the women involved, and quickly fixed any errors that were found.
“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.”