Todd Blanche is aiming to be the next attorney general of the United States. Standing in his way are the Epstein survivors who say he brushed them off, two senators with nothing left to lose, and a questionable connection to one of Epstein’s closest partners in crime.
On the second day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing earlier this month, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said a meeting with survivors needed to happen before he would vote to confirm Blanche. Survivors weren’t having a stand-in — they wanted Blanche and got him that same afternoon, pressing him on compensation, prosecutions, and unaddressed leads.
Blanche interviewed Maxwell and granted her immunity for her statements.
Blanche reportedly said only the FBI could open new investigations and that he couldn’t make commitments that day.
Dani Bensky, who has been identified as one of Epstein’s victims, described a frustrating meeting with Blanche, telling CNN, “He danced around his wording, repeatedly interrupted us, and could not commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith or begin to restore trust.”
That’s the survivors’ side of Blanche’s trouble.
The other side is a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund tied to Trump’s May settlement with the IRS, which Blanche has since declared dead — though concerns, raised chiefly by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Tillis, remain regarding the possibility of a revival of the fund.
RELATED: Trump BLASTS Cornyn and Tillis for holding AG nomination HOSTAGE
Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images
These threads have spelled trouble for Blanche — as has his connection to Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted partner in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell. On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution declaring that Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker who aided Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of underage girls, should never receive a presidential pardon — though it carries no legal force.
Last year, as deputy attorney general, Blanche interviewed Maxwell and granted her immunity for her statements.
In her floor remarks, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who introduced the resolution earlier this year, cited a report that Blanche had floated the idea that Maxwell’s attorney “might expect something in return for her candor.”
Rosen said she was pushing for a vote now specifically because Senate Republicans are inching toward confirming Blanche as permanent attorney general.
RELATED: DAMNING report at prestigious academy finds Jeffrey Epstein — and 46 other alleged abusers — molested students
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images
Trump, for his part, has floated another option entirely: pulling the nomination and resubmitting it after Cornyn’s and Tillis’ terms end in January, when neither will still be in the chamber to block it.
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