Todd Blanche Tells Reporters He’s Rearranging His Schedule To Meet With Epstein Survivors After Tillis Demand

Todd Blanche, who’s hoping to be confirmed as the Trump administration’s next attorney general, told reporters Thursday that he was attempting to rearrange his schedule to meet with survivors of prolific sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Blanche’s statement came in the wake of Sen. Thom Tillis’s (R-NC) threat to block Blanche’s confirmation if he did not meet with survivors before the vote, even though Blanche said on Wednesday that he couldn’t meet directly with the victims.

Reporters cornered Blanche in the halls of Congress during a recess Thursday, where he said, “I’m here today for meetings with senators. My understanding is that there were some victims here who wanted, who were here, who were in D.C. today, and who wanted to meet with the Department of Justice,” Blanche said. “I made my staff available. Um, they did not want to meet with my staff, they wanted to meet with me. I rearranged my schedule to try to meet with them. I’ve been here waiting. It didn’t work out. So, we’re going to see if there’s a way we can meet either later today or sometime soon.”

Tillis, who’s considered a swing vote in this confirmation hearing, said Thursday that he was willing to give Blanche up to two weeks to meet with the survivors.

“Because it seemed to me that Mr. Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with them and counsel — I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present — I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee,” Tillis said. “And I’m trying to get to yes, but this is a very important part of getting to yes. There should not be any reason why, based on what Mr. Blanche said yesterday, if he said that he would do it today, then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks.”

Attorney Arick Fudali, who represents eleven Epstein accusers, told CNN he heard “rumors” about a potential meeting with the DOJ, but, “I certainly haven’t been notified of any meeting.”

“I have not had any meeting with the DOJ or Todd Blanche, nor has anyone attempted to meet with me or my 11 survivor of Epstein clients. The closest we’ve had to some sort of correspondence about the redactions. But then they messed up the redactions anyway. So, no, I’ve heard rumors that there might be meeting. We heard Todd Blanche say maybe he can rearrange his schedule. I mean, how convenient for him. But no, I don’t. I know nothing more than what’s being reported at this point.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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