Epstein survivors urge Cornyn and Tillis to oppose Blanche’s confirmation

In an open letter to Sens. Thom Tillis (NC) and John Cornyn (TX), two dozen victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse urged the lawmakers on Tuesday to block acting Attorney General Todd Blanche from becoming the nation’s top lawyer permanently.

Both senators are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and could therefore ensure that Donald Trump’s former personal attorney fails his upcoming confirmation vote there.

“We understand that both of you remain open to opposing his nomination, and we are asking you to stand with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault at this critical moment,” the Epstein survivors wrote.

Tillis, who is retiring, and Cornyn, who lost a bruising primary after Trump endorsed his challenger, are in a unique position because they no longer need to curry favor with the president.

And both have expressed concerns over Blanche’s involvement in the delayed and haphazard release of the Epstein files as well as his role in signing off on the $1.8 billion slush fund Trump wants to create to reward those who committed crimes on his behalf.

“Under Todd Blanche’s leadership, the Justice Department released survivors’ names, identifying information and images while the names of alleged abusers and enablers remained hidden,” the letter states. “More than a thousand women and girls were abused, yet no one beyond Epstein and Maxwell has been prosecuted.”

Tillis had made his vote contingent on Blanche meeting directly with survivors, which the nominee promptly did.

However, the women present suggested that the acting attorney general was merely going through the motions to secure the lawmaker’s support.

“Survivors received an hour of deflection, interruption and gaslighting,” they wrote. “Todd Blanche showed no remorse for the horrific release of materials that exposed survivors’ 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.”

Addressing Tillis directly, they added that, when he demanded that this meeting take place, “We believed you expected a serious and meaningful conversation.” However, they noted that “what occurred instead was a box-checking exercise arranged only after his confirmation was put at risk.”

In other words, it all now hinges on whether the senators themselves were serious in their concerns or are just putting up a performance.

The Epstein survivors hope it is the former.

“Both of you have records of standing with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault,” the wrote. “A vote to confirm Todd Blanche would be a vote against those survivors. It would reward someone who has refused to take responsibility for the harm they’ve caused, failed to provide meaningful answers and shown no credible commitment to pursuing the full truth.”

Those claims are certainly backed up by Blanche’s written responses to questions that Judiciary Committee senators submitted after his confirmation hearing.

In answering questions about Epstein and the slush fund, he was routinely evasive and provided stock answers.

In related news, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Blanche, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, in which he asks them for information on any work Epstein may have done for foreign governments like those of Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Israel.

“Jeffrey Epstein never registered as a foreign agent,” Raskin wrote. “Yet numerous recently released documents now show he acted aggressively on behalf of multiple foreign governments, including several with interests adverse to the United States, in order to influence policies of the first Trump Administration.”

He is asking the officials to provide any information they have on these lobbying efforts and noted that Epstein’s close relationship with the president posed a serious security risk.

“In addition to raising significant questions about the blocked criminal investigation into Mr. Epstein’s vast network of aiders, enablers, and co-conspirators, the systematic efforts to cover up Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to President Trump raise grave national security concerns, as underscored by recent reports that Administration officials have repeatedly gathered in the White House Situation Room to discuss the Epstein matter,” Raskin added.