Tillis says he won't support Blanche unless he meets with Epstein survivors
Sen. Thom Tillis said that Todd Blanche must meet with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's crimes before he'll vote to advance his nomination for attorney general out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Updated on: July 16, 2026 / 2:03 PM EDT / CBS News
Tillis made his request during the second day of Blanche's confirmation hearing, which featured testimony from five witnesses discussing his nomination to lead the Justice Department. Among those who appeared before the Judiciary Committee was Dani Bensky, whose name and personal information were mistakenly made public in documents related to the federal investigation into Epstein that were released by the Justice Department last year.
Tillis, whose term in the Senate ends in early January, said he has a "positive predisposition" toward Blanche, but hasn't yet made a final decision on whether he will support his confirmation.
"Mr. Blanche said very quickly yesterday that he would meet with the victims, the Epstein victims, today if it could be arranged," Tillis said during Thursday's Judiciary Committee hearing. He added that the earliest the panel will vote on Blanche's nomination is in two weeks, and he expects Blanche to meet with the survivors before then.
"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," he said. "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."