{"id":13875,"date":"2026-07-22T20:23:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T15:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13875"},"modified":"2026-07-22T20:23:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T15:23:51","slug":"epstein-survivors-again-urge-senators-not-to-confirm-todd-blanche-as-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13875","title":{"rendered":"Epstein survivors again urge senators not to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Two dozen survivors of <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/alerts\/jeffrey-epstein\" dir=\"ltr\">Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> and Ghislaine Maxwell&#8217;s alleged abuse are again urging Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn to vote against confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In a letter to both senators, the group said that Blanche&#8217;s <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/Politics\/blanche-meet-epstein-victims-earn-confirmation-vote-sen\/story?id=134823103\" dir=\"ltr\">recent meeting<\/a> with Epstein victims was nothing more than &#8220;a box-checking exercise arranged only after his confirmation was put at risk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Survivors received an hour of deflection, interruption and gaslighting,&#8221; the letter said.<!-- -->\u00a0<!-- -->&#8220;Todd Blanche showed no remorse for the horrific release of materials that exposed survivors&#8217; identities and images. He also gave no indication that he believed there were investigative leads worth pursuing, or that he intended to seek accountability beyond Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Sen. Tillis last week required Blanche to meet with the victims to secure his vote, and Blanche met with them late Thursday at the Department of Justice. Blanche described the meeting as &#8220;productive&#8221; &#8212; saying he encouraged them to provide any information that could support an investigation &#8212; but acknowledged they conveyed &#8220;frustration&#8221; with the process.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t all cordial, because there&#8217;s something that they want that I don&#8217;t think I can give them, which is some form of justice,&#8221; Blanche said. &#8220;And I want to be able to give justice in the form of prosecutions, but and maybe we could do a prosecution at some point. I don&#8217;t know.&#8221;<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Immediately following the meeting, Epstein survivor Annie Farmer said she was &#8220;even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation as the United States&#8217; Attorney General&#8221; and described him as &#8220;abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors.&#8221;<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In their letter this week, the group of two dozen survivors, including Farmer, argued that the existence of the meeting should not be enough to earn Tillis&#8217; vote.<\/p>\n<div class=\"oLzSq QrHMO fnRUo pvsTF EhJPu vPlOC zNYgW OsTsW RMeqy daRVX ISNQ sKyCY eRftA acPPc MENS nFwaT MCnQE mEeeY SmBjI xegrY rPLsU iulOd NIuqO zzscu lzDCc aHUBM IEgzD OjMNy eQqcx SVqKB GQmdz jaoD VWDdR ONJdw vrZxD OnRTz gbbfF roDbV GPGwb oMlSS gfNzt oJhud eXZcf zhVlX \">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage GpQCA lZur asrEW \" data-testid=\"prism-inline-image\">\n<figure class=\"kzIjN GNmeK pYrtp dSqFO \" data-testid=\"prism-figure\">\n<div class=\"GpQCA lZur gIjeL \" data-testid=\"prism-ratio-frame\">\n<div class=\"FvQLF iLTd NqeUA UzzHi iWsMV \"><picture data-testid=\"prism-picture\"><source media=\"(max-width: 414px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/d42b256a-fb9e-4644-a635-00d13b6632e0\/blanche-6-ap-gmh-260716_1784229127219_hpMain.jpg?w=375, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/d42b256a-fb9e-4644-a635-00d13b6632e0\/blanche-6-ap-gmh-260716_1784229127219_hpMain.jpg?w=750 2x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 415px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/d42b256a-fb9e-4644-a635-00d13b6632e0\/blanche-6-ap-gmh-260716_1784229127219_hpMain.jpg?w=750, https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/d42b256a-fb9e-4644-a635-00d13b6632e0\/blanche-6-ap-gmh-260716_1784229127219_hpMain.jpg?w=1500 2x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/d42b256a-fb9e-4644-a635-00d13b6632e0\/blanche-6-ap-gmh-260716_1784229127219_hpMain.jpg\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"nMMea bNYiy Mjgpa dGwha DDmxa jgKNG RGHCC aBIU PriDW aiQHS lZur \" data-testid=\"prism-caption\">\n<p><span class=\"hsDdd OOSI GpQCA lZur VlFaz \" data-testid=\"prism-truncate\"><span><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ \">Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche walks to speak with reporters after attending a meeting related to survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in Washington, July 16, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gtOSm FbbUW tUtYa vOCwz EQwFq yCufu eEak Qmvg nyTIa SRXVc vzLa jgBfc WXDas CiUCW kqbG zrdEG txGfn ygKVe BbezD UOtxr CVfpq xijV soGRS XgdC sEIlf daWqJ YNujN JGtjI aZFDu rkKLh \">Mariam Zuhaib\/AP Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Blanche&#8217;s willingness to sit in a room with us should not matter more than how he treated us once he was there,&#8221; the letter said.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The letter also said the Department of Justice, under Blanche&#8217;s leadership, improperly released files including the names and personal identifying information of victims, while allegedly failing to investigate Epstein&#8217;s associates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Blanche has acknowledged the redaction errors and denied that any of the materials were withheld to protect Epstein Associates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">&#8220;Both of you have records of standing with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. A vote to confirm Todd Blanche would be a vote against those survivors,&#8221; the letter to the senators said.<!-- -->\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two dozen survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell&#8217;s alleged abuse are again urging Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn to vote against confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general.\u00a0 In a letter to both senators, the group said that Blanche&#8217;s recent meeting with Epstein victims was nothing more than &#8220;a box-checking exercise arranged only&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/d42b256a-fb9e-4644-a635-00d13b6632e0\/blanche-6-ap-gmh-260716_1784229127219_hpMain_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}