Several Jeffrey Epstein survivors and family members met with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, describing the meeting on Thursday as "deflating" and detailing what happened behind closed doors.
Blanche, Trump's nominee for attorney general who has been facing tough questioning during his Senate confirmation hearing over his involvement in the release of the Epstein files, was pressed by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to immediately meet with Epstein survivors. Tillis made it clear that he would not vote to approve Blanche until the nominee met with them.
Late survivor Virginia Giuffre's brother, Skye Roberts, and his wife, Amanda Roberts, spoke to CNN anchor Jake Tapper just after the exchange with Blanche.
"I think it was everything we expected," Amanda said. "Unfortunately, Todd Blanche has been doing to us for the past nine months. There were no real admissions. There were no real commitments being made. There were a lot of diversions. When we asked about specific comments, as you mentioned, there weren't investigative leads. And a lot of it was like, 'I didn't really say that. That's not what I meant.' And so, there was no really getting to the bottom of it. There were just a lot of circles, and it felt very deflating."
Dani Bensky, an Epstein survivor who testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday, called the meeting "lip service." Skye described why the meeting was unsettling for the group.
"I want to be honest with you," Skye said. "We were really trying to work with Todd Blanche in this scenario. Like, I want to be very clear to anybody that's watching this: our intentions are very pure. I wanted to go in there and get substance from him. I asked him at one point, I said, 'Mr. Blanche respectfully, like, what is it going to take to get investigative leads like subscribe that to me?'"
Blanche's response was eye-opening, Skye explained.
"And he said, 'Well, I need testimony, and I need evidence,'" Skye said. "I said, 'Well, let me give you an example: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Virginia provided testimony. She provided evidence. Is that not an investigative lead? He said, well, he won't cooperate with me. And he also said that Virginia is not here. So [he] can't use that testimony. And so, it just felt like he wasn't willing to work with us. But I want to be clear that I'm still willing to work with the Department of Justice to get some sort of justice—exactly what it's called."
Blanche apparently described the meeting as "not at all cordial."
"I think we walked in very, very dissatisfied with him, and we made it very clear that we do oppose his nomination," Amanda added. "I think it was his staff's job and his and his job to make us feel welcome, to make us feel like they were there to provide answers. We've been asking for this meeting, and it felt like he only had it because his hand was forced."