Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have accused Todd Blanche of disrespecting them. Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general allegedly dismissed them during a meeting this month. The allegations emerge as Blanche seeks Senate confirmation for the top Justice Department role.
Epstein victims say Todd Blanche asked them to ‘get to the point’
Dani Bensky, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, told reporters on Wednesday that Todd Blanche cut her off during the long-awaited discussion. “He actually said the words ‘get to the point’ to us,” Bensky claimed. “We’re survivors who have been waiting to meet with him for nine months, eight months. We’ve been asking for meetings, and he very much said, ‘Can you get to the point already? Like, what are you getting at?'”
Bensky said Blanche showed no appreciation of the case’s scale. “There was no integrity, there was no understanding that he’s dealing with the largest sex trafficking ring that we’ve seen in the U.S., ever. Instead, it was like, ‘You have an Epstein problem,'” she stated.
A DOJ official rejected the account, telling the Daily Beast, “It is unequivocally false to claim Acting AG Blanche said that.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson also defended him, “Todd Blanche has done an excellent job as acting Attorney General and will continue doing so as Attorney General.”
For those unaware, Republican Senator Thom Tillis sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He had told Trump’s nominee Blanche he would only confirm him if the nominee met with Epstein’s victims. Bensky suggested the result fell short of the senator’s intentions. “When Senator Tillis asked Todd Blanche to meet with survivors, I don’t think that he had the meeting in mind that we got,” she said. “The meeting was very condescending; it was a lot of talking in circles, it was a lot of arguing semantics, and not a lot of actually getting to the core points.”
The survivors wanted answers on two specific matters: why authorities moved Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice, to a low-security prison, and why investigators have not pursued certain leads. Bensky said Blanche offered no assurances on either point. “Basically, we walked away with absolutely no answers, and it felt like a very no-win situation,” she added.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
