President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, said Wednesday that he could meet with disgraced and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s victims but could not directly approach survivors represented by lawyers, responding to Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) demands that he personally hear from 10 victims within 30 days, among other Epstein-related questions the Justice Department nominee faced on Capitol Hill.During Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Durbin said the victims in attendance had repeatedly sought a meeting with the Justice Department or the FBI.“Can I get your word under oath that within the next 30 days you will personally sit down with these 10 victims and hear their case?” the Illinois Democrat asked.
Blanche said the department had officials prepared to meet with the women immediately, but communications with represented clients must go through their attorneys.“They have lawyers, as you know. I’m prohibited from meeting directly with them,” Blanche said. “But if they are represented by counsel, we will work with their counsel.”Abhishek Kambli, the DOJ’s former deputy associate attorney general, chimed in on X that Blanche’s legal assessment of his authority to meet with victims was correct.“The DOJ (and any other attorney) is prohibited from meeting with someone when they are represented by counsel without going through their counsel first,” Kambli said. “Does not mean a meeting can’t occur but they have to go through attorneys to make that happen.”Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)
