Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with several Jeffrey Epstein survivors at the Justice Department as his confirmation vote remained uncertain in the Senate. Afterward, Annie Farmer said the meeting strengthened her belief that senators should reject his nomination, describing Blanche as abrasive, condescending and deliberately noncommittal. Farmer said Blanche would not promise to investigate why the FBI ignored her sister Maria Farmer’s 1996 complaint, believed to be the first known federal report accusing Epstein of sexually exploiting minors. She also accused Blanche of refusing to accept responsibility for failures under his leadership, withholding documents related to charging decisions and providing an unsatisfactory explanation for his previous meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell.
Blanche characterized the meeting as productive and said he encouraged survivors to provide any information that could support new prosecutions, although he acknowledged that they did not present new evidence during the discussion. The meeting occurred after Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said he would not support moving Blanche’s nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee until Blanche personally met with Epstein’s victims. Survivor Dani Bensky had testified that Blanche repeatedly failed to respond to her requests for a meeting, while Blanche initially gave conflicting answers about whether he could meet directly with represented survivors. Tillis said he was trying to support the nomination, but made clear that Blanche’s treatment of the survivors would be an important factor in securing his vote.
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