Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein held a tense meeting Thursday afternoon as he attempts to shore up support for his nomination as attorney general.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican whose yes vote would be needed to advance Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee, had said the meeting was needed before he would vote in favor of President Donald Trump’s choice.
Neither side came away fully satisfied after the meeting.
“It wasn’t all cordial, because there’s something that they want that I don’t think I can give them, which is some form of justice,” Blanche told CNN after the conversation, which lasted a little more than an hour at the Justice Department.
The family of Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking ring who died by suicide in 2025, said on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” that the meeting with Blanche featured a lot of diversions.
