Blanche to meet with Epstein survivors after Tillis ultimatum

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet Thursday afternoon with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, following pressure from lawmakers during hearings on Capitol Hill this week.

A Department of Justice (DOJ) source familiar with the meeting told The Hill’s broadcast partner, NewsNation, that Blanche will meet with these survivors at the DOJ’s headquarters.

News of the meeting follows GOP Sen. Thom Tillis’s (N.C.) statement Thursday that he would withhold his support for Blanche’s nomination to be the country’s top law enforcement official until the acting attorney general met with the survivors.

“I have not made a final decision. But Mr. Blanche said very quickly yesterday that he would meet with the victims, the Epstein victims, today if it could be arranged,” Tillis said.

Blanche told lawmakers during a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he was restricted from meeting directly with victims.

“It seemed to me that Mr. Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with them and counsel,” Tillis continued. “I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present. I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee, and I’m trying to get to yes. But this is a very important part of getting to yes.”

The GOP senator noted that the committee would vote on Blanche’s nomination at its next mark up in two weeks.

The acting attorney general has faced tough questions from Democrats on the Judiciary Committee this week over how the DOJ has handled the public release of files related to its probe into Epstein’s crimes.

The department was required to unveil millions of these documents after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last fall.

Several Epstein survivors said their personal information was not properly redacted in the DOJ’s public database, alleging that the department failed to adequately protect victim privacy.

Blanche told Judiciary lawmakers Wednesday that the DOJ worked to promptly correct any redaction errors and acknowledged “there were mistakes that were made” in this process.

“We had dozens of lawyers on call 24/7,” Blanche said Wednesday. “Whenever we learned that any victim’s name had been improperly not redacted, we immediately took the document down and fixed it as soon as we could.”

A DOJ spokesperson told The Hill on Thursday afternoon that Blanche previously offered to meet earlier in the day on Capitol Hill with Epstein survivors who were present at his confirmation hearing.

“Unfortunately, after heading to the meeting room, the Acting AG was informed that the victims were unable to attend, so the meeting was rescheduled for this afternoon,” the spokesperson said. “He looks forward to their discussion.”

The spokesperson also noted that the DOJ’s leadership has “already spoken” with almost 30 attorneys and organizations representing these victims and that the department has “always encouraged any victim with new evidence of a crime to speak with the FBI.”

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Jeffrey Epstein

Thom Tillis

Todd Blanche

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