WASHINGTON — Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis declared Thursday that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche must meet with the victims of late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein in order to secure Tillis’ support.
Tillis (R-NC), a key swing vote who could determine whether Blanche’s nomination clears the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicated that he was heading toward voting “yes” on the second day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing.
“I have a positive predisposition, just so that everybody knows. I have not made a final decision,” Tillis explained. “But Mr. Blanche said very quickly yesterday that he would meet with the victims, the Epstein victims today, if it could be arranged.
“Because it seemed to me that Mr. Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with them and counsel — I understand the restriction of the counsel has to be present — I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee.”
Tillis noted that Blanche will have about two weeks to meet with the Epstein victims and secure his vote.
“This is a very important part of getting to yes,” he said. “There should not be any reason why, based on what Mr. Blanche said yesterday, if he said that he would do it today, then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks.”
Democrats brought nearly a dozen Epstein victims to the first day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing Wednesday. President Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department insisted that ethics rules precluded him from meeting with the victims one-on-one, but offered to have Justice Department staff do so.
Blanche also appeared to signal that he would meet with the victims’ lawyers, but added that he was unsure whether he could let the committee know about that meeting if it takes place.
Epstein survivor Dani Bensky claimed that Wednesday was the first time she learned that Blanche felt he couldn’t meet with the victims one-on-one due to DOJ ethics rules.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is made up of 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats. All 10 Democrats on the panel are expected to vote against Blanche’s nomination.
In addition to Tillis, another lame-duck Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, told reporters he is genuinely undecided about Blanche due to his role in the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate victims of government weaponization.
The nominee could still receive a full Senate floor vote even if the Judiciary Committee doesn’t approve him, but Blanche can only afford to lose a maximum of three Republican votes there.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Blanche issued a public apology for the DOJ’s inadvertent release of material that identified victims and made public their personal information in the Epstein files.
“It was humiliating,” Bensky recounted Thursday about the disclosure. “It’s been absolutely devastating. Outing survivors causes real and irrevocable harm while coping with our emotional distress and psychological trauma.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
