Blanche meets with Epstein accusers after demand from Republican senator crucial to confirmation
apnews.com
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has met with accusers of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following the demand of a Republican senator whose support is crucial to his nomination to lead the Justice Department.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/63722184

After the meeting, Blanche told reporters that he encouraged the accusers to come to the FBI with any information that could help investigators build cases against additional figures tied to Epstein.

But Blanche acknowledged he couldn’t assure them additional prosecutions could be brought. The Justice Department has repeatedly said it will investigate further if new information surfaces, but the government doesn’t currently have evidence to support prosecutions against others in Epstein’s orbit.

“It wasn’t all cordial,” Blanche said of Thursday’s meeting. “Because there’s something that they want that I don’t think I can give them, which is some form of justice. And I want to be able to give justice in the form of prosecutions, and maybe we can do a prosecution at some point,” Blanche said.

But Blanche added, “I don’t know.”

  • ChunkMcHorkleEnglish
    271·
    3 days ago

    The sole thing I care about in this kind of confirm-me political theater is what the victims think of it, and they’re not happy:

    One accuser, Dani Bensky, expressed frustration after the meeting, saying Blanche appeared to treat it as “a mere ‘check-the-box’ exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation.”

    “He danced around his wording, repeatedly interrupted us and could not commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith or begin to restore trust,” she said in an emailed statement. She said Blanche offered “no credible plan to investigate and pursue accountability” beyond Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

    Earlier Thursday, Bensky told lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee that women harmed by Epstein repeatedly asked to meet with Blanche “through multiple channels and he never responded.”

    “We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored,” Bensky said.

    I’m also thinking back to all the times Blanche said he couldn’t meet with victims directly, but he could meet with their attorneys: he’s still Trump’s personal attorney, just like he said in his confirmation hearing, and is still thinking of this meeting in those terms.

    (For those who are not aware of how that works in US law, if you are an attorney for someone involved or potentially involved in a lawsuit, like Blanche is on Trump’s behalf as his personal attorney, then it is against legal rules to personally meet with others who are or might be involved in such lawsuits – but you can meet with their attorneys. That’s why Blanche kept coming back to “if they have counsel, I can meet with their counsel.”)

    I don’t have high hopes, but I’m still hoping Cornyn’s pissed off enough about the Trump-branded knife in his own back to vote no on this hopped-up ambulance chaser’s confirmation.

    • DokPsyEnglish
      51·
      3 days ago

      If you’re putting hopes on cornyn, I have some bad news for you

      • ChunkMcHorkleEnglish
        7·
        3 days ago

        Nope. He’s still a Republican, right?

        But he’s not happy. After Cornyn’s full support and 24 years in the Senate, Trump supported his primary challenger. It’s a shiv in the back. They can’t reliably count on Cornyn’s support now any more than the rest of us can. Cornyn might vote for Blanche’s confirmation, and he might vote against it. Depends on how pissed off he is. We won’t know until we know.

        • DokPsyEnglish
          3·
          3 days ago

          Unhappy or not, he will likely follow the party till the end