It took a Republican ultimatum to get Todd Blanche in the room and even then, he couldn’t be bothered to show up for survivors. After Senator Tillis said he would withhold his confirmation vote until Blanche met with Epstein survivors, Blanche’s first attempt Thursday morning was a no-show stunt: he and his team sat in a Senate Judiciary Committee office for half an hour while no survivors appeared, then complained to reporters that he’d “rearranged his schedule.” Only after that failed photo-op did an actual meeting with survivors—a meeting that only a day earlier, Blanche had suggested was legally impermissible—happen Thursday afternoon at DOJ headquarters.
The results were exactly what survivors feared. Epstein survivor Annie Farmer, who sat across from Blanche, described him afterward as “abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors.” Survivors say Blanche deflected responsibility for DOJ’s own failures onto prior administrations, wouldn’t commit to reopening long-ignored reports of Epstein’s abuse, and offered no real accountability on the release of internal deliberation records. One survivor said the meeting felt like a box-checking audition for votes, not a genuine reckoning. Blanche himself all but confirmed the meeting went sideways, telling reporters afterward that survivors wanted “some form of justice” that he didn’t think he could give them.
Blanche only met with survivors because Tillis forced his hand and even then, he couldn’t manage basic respect. That’s not who should be running the Justice Department.
- CNN: Todd Blanche holds tense meeting with Epstein survivors after key GOP senator’s ultimatum. The meeting left “neither side… fully satisfied,” and Blanche told CNN that survivors wanted “some form of justice” he couldn’t provide.
- ABC News: Epstein survivor says acting AG Blanche was ‘abrasive, condescending’ during meeting. Survivor Annie Farmer says she is “even more confident” opposing his confirmation after the meeting, and that Blanche wouldn’t commit to probing why her sister’s 1996 report on Epstein was ignored.
- Yahoo News: Survivor Dani Bensky says the meeting was “neither substantive nor productive” and that her assessment of Blanche hasn’t changed; said Blanche refused to release records on internal deliberations over charging Epstein.