Amna Nawaz
Amna Nawaz
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WATCH: Tillis says he won't vote to confirm Blanche unless nominee meets with Epstein survivors

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July 16, 2026

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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said his vote to confirm U.S. attorney general nominee Todd Blanche is dependent on whether Blanche meets with the survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the next two weeks.

“I'm trying to get to yes, but this is a very important part of getting to yes,” he said.

Tillis said he had a “positive predisposition” toward Blanche but had not made a final decision during the second day of confirmation hearings held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. To clear the committee, Blanche needs the support of all Republicans.

Several senators called on Blanche to commit to meeting with survivors during his Wednesday hearing. Blanche said a member of his office was in the room and could speak with the survivors who were at the hearing that day. He added that there were restrictions on him meeting with survivors if their lawyers weren’t present.

Dani Bensky, a survivor of abuse by Epstein, testified against Blanche on Thursday. She said the Justice Department had ignored survivors for months and that she had not heard from the department after the first confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“We have not heard from a staffer in the last 24 hours,” Bensky said.

Tillis said, based on Blanche’s Wednesday testimony, he expects for “that meeting to occur before I'm willing to vote out of this committee.”

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WATCHSen Thom Tillis R-NCTodd BlancheJeffrey EpsteinSenate Judiciary Committee ToRepublicans SeveralDani BenskyThursday She

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WATCH: Tillis says he won't vote to confirm Blanche unless nominee meets with Epstein survivors · Amna Nawaz · Sentinel