Blanche’s Confirmation Hits An Epstein Roadblock

Todd Blanche’s path to becoming the nation’s top law enforcement officer hit a serious roadblock when a fellow Republican senator refused to vote for him unless he sits down face-to-face with Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors.

Story Snapshot

  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he will not vote to advance Blanche’s Attorney General nomination until Blanche personally meets with Epstein survivors — not just their lawyers.
  • Blanche needs all 11 Republican votes on the Senate Judiciary Committee to move forward, making Tillis’s support critical.
  • Blanche met with survivors at the Department of Justice after Tillis issued his ultimatum, but at least one survivor called the meeting unsatisfying and said she now opposes his confirmation more than before.
  • Eighteen survivors publicly stated Blanche had never met with any of them before the hearing, directly contradicting his claim that he engaged with their representatives.

Tillis Draws a Hard Line

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) made his position clear during the second day of Todd Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on July 16, 2026. Tillis said he has a “positive disposition” toward Blanche but set one firm condition: Blanche must meet directly with Epstein survivors — not just their lawyers — before Tillis will cast his vote. “I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee,” Tillis said.

The stakes are high. Blanche needs every single Republican vote on the 11-member committee to advance his nomination. Tillis is a lame-duck senator who is retiring, which gives him more freedom to act on principle without worrying about political blowback. He added that he is “trying to get to yes” but called the survivor meeting “a very important part” of earning his support.

Blanche’s Shifting Story on Survivors

During day one of the hearing, Blanche told lawmakers he was barred from meeting directly with survivors if they were represented by lawyers. He cited attorney ethics rules as the reason. But that explanation quickly fell apart. Legal analyst Elie Honig called the claim “absolutely untrue” and “devious,” explaining that ethics rules block direct contact with criminal defendants — not witnesses or victims. Blanche later walked back his own statement, saying, “I never said I can’t meet with them.”

Blanche also claimed he had already met with lawyers for more than 30 survivor representatives. But 18 survivors pushed back hard, publicly stating he had never met with any of them. Survivor Dani Bensky testified at the hearing that she and other victims had “never heard from Blanche about meeting with them directly.” That on-the-record testimony went unanswered by Blanche with no specific dates, logs, or names to back up his claim.

A Meeting Happens — But Survivors Aren’t Satisfied

After Tillis issued his ultimatum, Blanche agreed to meet with survivors that same Thursday afternoon at Department of Justice headquarters. The meeting lasted about one hour. But the outcome did not help Blanche’s case. Epstein survivor Annie Farmer told ABC News afterward that she was “even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation.” The meeting appeared to be a box-checking exercise rather than a genuine effort to hear survivors out.

The committee is expected to reconvene around July 30 to vote on whether to send Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate. If Tillis follows through on his condition, he will need to decide whether the meeting met the spirit of his demand — not just the letter of it. Survivors made clear they do not think it did. The American people deserve an Attorney General who treats victims with respect, not one who avoids them for months and then shows up only when his job is on the line.

Sources:

nytimes.com, pbs.org, abcnews.com, independent.co.uk, youtube.com, latimes.com, instagram.com, oneindia.com, rawstory.com

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