Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche meets with Jeffrey Epstein survivors, drawing criticism

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche held a private meeting on July 16, 2026, with a group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors, including prominent advocates Annie Farmer and Dani Bensky, in Washington, D.C. The session was arranged after Senator Thom Tillis made it a condition for his support of Blanche’s confirmation to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Survivors pressed Blanche to commit to investigating a 1996 FBI complaint filed by Maria Farmer and to address his handling of Ghislaine Maxwell’s case. Blanche declined to provide firm commitments, describing the meeting as “substantive” and urging survivors to bring any new information to the FBI, while the advocates left feeling the discussion was “abrasive, condescending, and intentionally non‑committal.”

An opinion piece linked the meeting to broader partisan criticism, portraying the encounter as part of a “law‑fare” strategy by Democrats against former President Donald Trump and accusing the party of reckless political tactics. The article cited the Blanche‑survivors meeting as evidence of a politicized justice agenda, though it offered no additional factual developments beyond the reported remarks and the conditions set by Senator Tillis.