Full story
Tillis sets meeting condition
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is set to meet Thursday afternoon with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes at the DOJ’s headquarters, after GOP Sen. Thom Tillis said he would withhold support for Blanche’s nomination until Blanche met with the survivors.
“Blanche must meet with Epstein victims to earn confirmation vote, Sen”
Tillis told lawmakers during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that he expected the meeting to occur before he was willing to vote out of the committee, saying, “I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee.”
The Hill reported that Blanche told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he was restricted from meeting directly with victims, while a DOJ spokesperson said the meeting was rescheduled after victims were unable to attend.
The Hill also said the DOJ was required to unveil millions of documents after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last fall, and that survivors alleged their personal information was not properly redacted in the DOJ’s public database.
Blanche acknowledged “there were mistakes that were made” and told the committee, “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.”
Blanche’s attempt and survivors’ anger
ABC News said Blanche made an unsuccessful attempt to meet with Epstein survivors Thursday afternoon on Capitol Hill, with Blanche telling ABC News, “I rearranged my schedule to try to meet with them.”
ABC News reported that one witness at the hearing was Epstein victim Dani Bensky, who testified that Blanche had never responded to repeated attempts to reach him to sit down and recount her story.
CNN reported that a Justice Department official approached Bensky with an offer that Alessandra Serano, the national coordinator for child exploitation and human trafficking, would be able to meet with Epstein survivors that day, but Bensky said the offer was rejected.
CNN also quoted Tillis saying, “This is a very important part of getting to yes,” and said the meeting was needed before he would vote in favor of President Donald Trump’s choice.
CNN further reported that Lauren Hersh, co-founder of World Without Exploitation, said, “Survivors feel seen and heard today. They have been harmed by this DOJ and specifically by Todd Blanche.”
Files release and nomination stakes
Beyond the confirmation fight, EL PAÍS reported that the Trump administration published more than three million Epstein archive documents one month after the deadline, with Todd Blanche announcing on Friday that the DOJ was releasing “more than three million pages, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.”
EL PAÍS said the release was the third disclosure of Epstein case documents since February 2025 declassification, and it described that many items were edited or censored, while the DOJ said it gave “clear instructions to the reviewers to limit censorship to protecting the victims and their families.”
The Hill reported that Blanche faced tough questions from Democrats on the Judiciary Committee over how the DOJ handled the public release of files related to its probe into Epstein’s crimes, after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last fall.
CNN said the fate of Blanche’s nomination in the Judiciary Committee hinges on two Republican senators, and it quoted Cornyn saying the anti-weaponization fund “still can be revived,” while Tillis said he needs “definable, ratified, executed agreements” to make him feel comfortable that the idea is dead.
With the meeting condition tied to Tillis’s support and the DOJ’s document releases under scrutiny, the sources frame Blanche’s confirmation as dependent on whether the required survivor meeting happens before the committee vote timeline discussed in coverage.
