Tillis Says Blanche Must Meet Epstein Survivors Before Judiciary Vote

2026-07-16

The BareStory

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Thursday he will not vote to advance Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee unless Blanche first meets with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse.

Tillis made the demand during the second day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing, which featured outside witnesses including Dani Bensky. Bensky told the committee her personal information was made public in Justice Department documents related to the Epstein investigation after names had been submitted for redaction.

Blanche, who answered senators’ questions Wednesday but was not present Thursday, said mistakes were made in the release of the Epstein files and apologized to survivors whose information was not redacted. He said Justice Department staff could meet with survivors and said he had not refused to meet them, but that direct contact would have to go through their lawyers. Blanche later told reporters he had tried to adjust his schedule to meet with survivors but had not yet been able to do so.

Tillis said he was positively inclined toward Blanche but remained undecided. Sen. John Cornyn, another Republican on the committee, is also undecided. The committee vote is expected no earlier than two weeks from now.

Senators also questioned Blanche about a settlement involving President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service that created a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund and included protections related to audits or investigations. Blanche said the fund no longer exists, while Tillis and Cornyn raised concerns about whether parts of the settlement could be revived.

Left Perspective

Shield The Survivors
Test The Nominee
Expose Power Shields

Right Perspective

Guard The Process
Repair The Institution
Contain Legal Drift

Left Perspective

• Shield The Survivors Value: protecting vulnerable people from institutional harm. Tillis’s refusal to advance Todd Blanche unless he meets Epstein survivors is read as a necessary accountability checkpoint, not a procedural delay. Dani Bensky’s testimony that her personal information was made public after names were submitted for redaction turns the issue from bureaucratic error into survivor re-traumatization. A direct meeting is seen as the minimum signal that the Justice Department’s failures have human consequences.

• Test The Nominee Value: government accountability before power is granted. Blanche’s apology for redaction failures matters, but his absence on Thursday and the still-unheld survivor meeting make the apology look incomplete from this lens. Saying Justice Department staff could meet with survivors, or that contact must go through lawyers, may be legally cautious, but it risks appearing institution-first rather than survivor-first. The confirmation vote becomes leverage to force responsiveness before authority is expanded.

• Expose Power Shields Value: civil liberties and resistance to politicized protection for powerful figures. Questions about the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund and protections tied to audits or investigations raise alarms because they suggest legal settlements can create privileged insulation from scrutiny. Blanche’s statement that the fund no longer exists does not fully resolve concerns if Tillis and Cornyn believe parts could be revived. The long-term fear is a Justice Department that apologizes for harm to the vulnerable while preserving escape routes for the powerful.

Right Perspective

• Guard The Process Value: rule of law and orderly institutional procedure. Tillis’s demand is legitimate only if it strengthens the Senate’s advice-and-consent role rather than turning confirmation into symbolic punishment. Blanche’s statement that direct contact with survivors must go through lawyers fits a traditional legal framework where sensitive contact is managed through counsel. The key test is whether he can show competence and respect without bypassing proper channels.

• Repair The Institution Value: institutional continuity and administrative reliability. Blanche’s acknowledgment that mistakes were made in the Epstein files, along with his apology, is viewed as a starting point for restoring trust in Justice Department operations. The redaction failure is serious because it shows breakdown inside a law-enforcement bureaucracy that must protect victims, evidence, and due process at once. A meeting with survivors can be useful, but the deeper priority is whether Blanche can impose durable systems that prevent future disclosure failures.

• Contain Legal Drift Value: national civic order through clear limits on politicized enforcement. The settlement involving President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service raises a different institutional question: whether protections against audits or investigations could distort normal legal oversight. Blanche’s claim that the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund no longer exists helps, but Tillis and Cornyn’s concern about revival reflects caution against ambiguous legal mechanisms. The long-term fear is not only abuse of power, but unstable precedents that let future administrations weaponize or immunize enforcement depending on political need.

How it may affect me

As a U.S. reader:

• The attorney general nomination may be delayed at least two weeks if Todd Blanche does not meet with Epstein survivors before the Senate Judiciary Committee vote.

• Survivors and others whose information appears in sensitive Justice Department files may see renewed scrutiny of how the department handles redactions and protects personal data.

• The confirmation process could affect who leads the Justice Department and how that person addresses past disclosure mistakes involving victims.

• Questions about the Trump-IRS settlement may lead senators to seek clearer limits on whether legal protections tied to audits or investigations can be revived in the future.

Tillis Says Blanche Must Meet Epstein Survivors Before Judiciary Vote

The BareStory

Left Perspective

Right Perspective

How it may affect me

Read the story at