Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Todd Blanche Meets Epstein Survivors as Confirmation Vote Hangs in the Balance (7/17/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. So Todd Blanche is trying to win his
- 0:08Speaker 1: confirmation with the Senate, but before they could get to
- 0:11Speaker 1: a point where they were ready to vote, there were
- 0:14Speaker 1: a couple of senators who wanted him to meet with
- 0:18Speaker 1: the Epstein survivors before they move forward with their vote.
- 0:23Speaker 1: And look, I think that's a good idea, right, he
- 0:25Speaker 1: should have met with the survivors a long time ago
- 0:28Speaker 1: of his own accord. There shouldn't have to be threats
- 0:32Speaker 1: from senators about not voting for him for him to
- 0:35Speaker 1: do this. He should have wanted to do this, but
- 0:38Speaker 1: of course, when we're dealing with somebody like Todd Blanche,
- 0:41Speaker 1: forget it. But after being pressured, he finally gave way
- 0:45Speaker 1: and he met with some of Epstein's survivors. And according
- 0:48Speaker 1: to the survivors that met with him, the meeting went
- 0:51Speaker 1: exactly how you think it would, Todd Blanche being abrasive,
- 0:56Speaker 1: Todd Blanche being dismissive, and Todd Blae being useless. Today
- 1:03Speaker 1: we have an article from ABC News and the headline
- 1:07Speaker 1: Epstein's survivor says acting a g Blanche was abrasive and
- 1:11Speaker 1: condescending during the meeting. This article was authored by Alexandra Mallin,
- 1:17Speaker 1: J O'Brien, Alison Pcorin, and Peter Charlembeau. Acting Attorney General
- 1:24Speaker 1: Todd Blanche met Thursday with several survivors of deceased convicted
- 1:28Speaker 1: sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's crimes at the Justice Department, and again, look,
- 1:33Speaker 1: it's all for show. If you wanted to meet with
- 1:35Speaker 1: these girls, if you wanted to meet with anybody related
- 1:38Speaker 1: to the story, he could have done so. But instead
- 1:42Speaker 1: he wanted to give us some nonsense. Oh, I can't
- 1:44Speaker 1: meet with them. They're being represented. I'm not allowed to
- 1:47Speaker 1: meet with them face to face. Where's that written in
- 1:50Speaker 1: the rule book? A word? It's not And Blanche was
- 1:53Speaker 1: lying again. I'm absolutely shocked to hear it. After the meeting,
- 1:59Speaker 1: Epstein's Annie Farmer told ABC News she's even more confident
- 2:03Speaker 1: in urging Senators to vote against his confirmation as the
- 2:06Speaker 1: United States Attorney General. I found him abrasive, condescending, and
- 2:11Speaker 1: intentionally noncommittal to survivors, a mark contrast to his public
- 2:16Speaker 1: testimony during his confirmation hearing, said Farmer, who testified for
- 2:20Speaker 1: the government at Glene Maxwell's criminal trial. And Annie was
- 2:24Speaker 1: a young lady that was in New Mexico with Jeffrey
- 2:27Speaker 1: Epstein and Glenn Maxwell and was sexually assaulted by them
- 2:32Speaker 1: under the pretense of going to a school camp. That's
- 2:38Speaker 1: who we're talking about here. And that person, Annie Farmer,
- 2:43Speaker 1: is telling you that this dude should not be the
- 2:46Speaker 1: Attorney General. And my question is this, would any of
- 2:50Speaker 1: these senators vote to confirm Todd Blanche if it was
- 2:53Speaker 1: their daughter who had been hurt by somebody like Epstein
- 2:56Speaker 1: and then somebody like Blanche comes in and does nothing.
- 3:01Speaker 1: Would that be somebody you vote for? And if the
- 3:05Speaker 1: answers no, then why would you vote for it when
- 3:08Speaker 1: it's somebody else's kid. She alleged that both Epstein and
- 3:10Speaker 1: Maxwell touched her inappropriately at Epstein's New Mexico ranch when
- 3:14Speaker 1: she was sixteen. Farmer said Blanche would not commit to
- 3:18Speaker 1: investigating why her sister, Maria Farmer's nineteen ninety six report
- 3:22Speaker 1: into Epstein was ignored. That complaint to the FBI appears
- 3:27Speaker 1: to be the first known report the federal law enforcement
- 3:30Speaker 1: that Epstein was involved in child's sexual exploitation. And I
- 3:34Speaker 1: think that's key here, considering that the Epstein Transparency Act
- 3:39Speaker 1: is supposed to look into the investigation as well as
- 3:42Speaker 1: the people who were involved. So you would think that
- 3:47Speaker 1: if you're serious about what's going on, you'd have a
- 3:49Speaker 1: lot more interest in why that complaint was ignored, who
- 3:53Speaker 1: ignored it, who gave the order, why they do it,
- 3:56Speaker 1: and can they explain it now? But of course he'll
- 3:59Speaker 1: just act like it's no big deal and like there's
- 4:01Speaker 1: nothing to investigate, and that's the problem. He's an absolute liar.
- 4:07Speaker 1: Farmer said that Blanche refused to take accountability for mistakes
- 4:10Speaker 1: made under his own leadership and refused to release documents
- 4:13Speaker 1: that would shed light on the charging decisions related to Epstein.
- 4:18Speaker 1: She added that Blanche's explanation for his meeting with Glenn
- 4:21Speaker 1: Maxwell was wholly dissatisfactory and contrived. His evasiveness felt like
- 4:26Speaker 1: a deliberate attempt to claim the Attorney General's office is
- 4:29Speaker 1: powerless in this matter. By passing the buck once again,
- 4:34Speaker 1: he's leaving survivors trapped in the same endless loop of
- 4:36Speaker 1: searching for answers and receiving none, she said. And that's
- 4:40Speaker 1: been the story from the very beginning, and all this
- 4:43Speaker 1: talk by the Trump administration about how they're going to
- 4:46Speaker 1: come in, they're going to be different and they're going
- 4:48Speaker 1: to do the right thing. Well, have they done the
- 4:50Speaker 1: right thing at all? Ever? In any situation? Sure doesn't
- 4:54Speaker 1: seem like it to me. Person for Blanche send a
- 5:01Speaker 1: statement that the Acting Attorney General answered questions and walk
- 5:05Speaker 1: through what is needed for investigations to proceed. The Justice
- 5:09Speaker 1: Department is determined to bring justice for all victims of
- 5:11Speaker 1: human trafficking and sex crimes. The spokesperson added, Yeah, what
- 5:16Speaker 1: about financial crimes? What about immigration fraud? What about trading
- 5:20Speaker 1: state secrets? Do we know that didn't occur? See, this
- 5:25Speaker 1: is the big problem. When everybody's just focused on the
- 5:28Speaker 1: most salacious part, we miss things. And those things are
- 5:33Speaker 1: very important. And I know that everybody likes to style
- 5:35Speaker 1: themselves as an investigator these days, but the vast majority
- 5:39Speaker 1: of people that are talking about these complex cases, they
- 5:43Speaker 1: don't even understand the documents that they're talking about. And
- 5:46Speaker 1: when you're talking about something complex like a case like this,
- 5:50Speaker 1: there's a lot more that goes into it than oh,
- 5:52Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein diddler, Jeffrey Epstein bad And look, of course
- 5:56Speaker 1: that's what gets the headlines. But if you want to
- 6:01Speaker 1: get to the truth, and you're interested in justice, the
- 6:05Speaker 1: way to get there is through this other portion of
- 6:08Speaker 1: the case. If you want to hold people accountable for
- 6:11Speaker 1: making decisions, then we're gonna have to know who those
- 6:14Speaker 1: people are. If you want to know who was giving
- 6:16Speaker 1: the okay at the DOJ, we're gonna have to know
- 6:19Speaker 1: who that is. And until we have that information and
- 6:23Speaker 1: we know why the decisions were made, then this whole
- 6:26Speaker 1: entire thing's a farce. Now, the people that think this
- 6:30Speaker 1: is just a big hoax, they'll tell you this was
- 6:32Speaker 1: all investigated already and they found nothing. But that's not
- 6:35Speaker 1: the truth. And if this was all investigated already, I
- 6:39Speaker 1: would have a lot less to say. Because when you
- 6:42Speaker 1: have documentation and I can look at it and I
- 6:45Speaker 1: can see the evidence for myself, that's one thing. But
- 6:48Speaker 1: just expecting me to believe what you're saying, that's something
- 6:51Speaker 1: completely different, especially considering the dumpster fire that the DOJ
- 6:56Speaker 1: is when it comes to trust. Earlier in the day,
- 7:00Speaker 1: Blanche commented on the meeting, saying he told them to
- 7:02Speaker 1: take any information they had to federal investigators. I said
- 7:07Speaker 1: to them the same thing that I've said publicly publicly repeatedly,
- 7:11Speaker 1: which is what I want. And everybody at the Department
- 7:15Speaker 1: of Justice wants to prosecute anybody that we can for
- 7:18Speaker 1: committing crimes against any of the Epstein victims, Blanche said,
- 7:22Speaker 1: So I encourage them, like I've been saying publicly that
- 7:25Speaker 1: if they have information, they should go to the FBI.
- 7:28Speaker 1: Oh yeah, why so the FBI can ignore it again,
- 7:32Speaker 1: so they could release the information of these survivors ruin
- 7:35Speaker 1: their lives. Blanche added that there was necessarily frustration from
- 7:39Speaker 1: the victims, but there wasn't any shouting. It wasn't all
- 7:43Speaker 1: cordial because there's something that they want that I don't
- 7:46Speaker 1: think I can give them, which is some form of justice,
- 7:49Speaker 1: Blanche said. And I want to be able to give
- 7:51Speaker 1: justice in the form of prosecutions, and maybe we could
- 7:54Speaker 1: do a prosecution at some point. I don't know, but
- 7:57Speaker 1: I thought the case was closed. I thought there was
- 7:59Speaker 1: nothing left to see. God, these people are so ridiculous.
- 8:03Speaker 1: If Blanche and the Trump administration wanted an Epstein victory,
- 8:06Speaker 1: they go after the NPA, that would be one way
- 8:09Speaker 1: to show us that you're not fucking around. But no,
- 8:12Speaker 1: you won't even do that. Instead, you get into this meeting,
- 8:15Speaker 1: and you belittle these girls. Real tough guy. Blanche said
- 8:21Speaker 1: that the FBI agents joined in the meeting, as well
- 8:24Speaker 1: as a prosecutor who specializes in sex trafficking in human trafficking,
- 8:28Speaker 1: and that some attorneys for the victims joined remotely. Blanche
- 8:32Speaker 1: called the meeting productive and said he mostly spent the
- 8:35Speaker 1: meeting listening to their concerns, not caring, but listening, not
- 8:39Speaker 1: hearing but listening. Asked whether the survivors provided them any
- 8:43Speaker 1: new information, Blanche said they didn't, but he noted that
- 8:47Speaker 1: he didn't see that as a reason for the meeting.
- 8:49Speaker 1: The purpose of the meeting was just to listen. They
- 8:52Speaker 1: weren't prepared for this meeting, nor was I, Blanche said,
- 8:55Speaker 1: but I did say to them to the extent that
- 8:57Speaker 1: they had either new information or wanted to talk about
- 9:00Speaker 1: what they have talked about in the past again, so
- 9:03Speaker 1: we can take a second look or a third look.
- 9:05Speaker 1: I encourage them to do that. Look, let's be very clear, okay,
- 9:09Speaker 1: one hundred percent Jeffrey Epstein with trafficking girls back and
- 9:13Speaker 1: forth with John Luke Brunell, if nobody else with Brunell
- 9:19Speaker 1: and mister Blanche lied about that too, and wouldn't you
- 9:22Speaker 1: know it? Guess who else is dead? Jean Luke Brunell.
- 9:26Speaker 1: I guess that's just a coincidence, right, just another coincidence,
- 9:30Speaker 1: and a long line of them. The meeting came after
- 9:34Speaker 1: key GOP Senate members of the Judiciary Committee, whose vote
- 9:38Speaker 1: is needed to secure Blanche's confirmation as the next Attorney General,
- 9:41Speaker 1: said that he will require Blanche to sit down with
- 9:44Speaker 1: Epstein victims before he can vote for him. Well, isn't
- 9:48Speaker 1: that nice? Senator Tom Tillis announced the new condition earlier
- 9:53Speaker 1: Thursday during a hearing where one of the witnesses was
- 9:55Speaker 1: Epstein victim Danny Benski, facing a potentially Iraqi confirmation. Blanche
- 10:02Speaker 1: made a brief attempt to meet with the survivors earlier
- 10:05Speaker 1: on Thursday. Mind you, he had all this time to
- 10:08Speaker 1: do this, but he decided to do it now when
- 10:11Speaker 1: he was forced to, just like all of the people
- 10:13Speaker 1: that are Jeffrey Epstein enablers that he's protecting. I guess
- 10:17Speaker 1: we shouldn't be shocked that he uses the same strategy.
- 10:21Speaker 1: I rearrange my schedule to try to meet with them,
- 10:24Speaker 1: Blanche told ABC News after leaving the office. I've been
- 10:27Speaker 1: here waiting. It didn't work out, so we're going to
- 10:29Speaker 1: see if there's a way we can meet, either later
- 10:32Speaker 1: today or sometime soon. There's nothing newsworthy about the fact
- 10:35Speaker 1: because the Department of Justice will always meet with victims
- 10:38Speaker 1: or their representatives, and if those victims or their representatives
- 10:42Speaker 1: have evidence that anybody committed a crime, whether it has
- 10:45Speaker 1: to do with Jeffrey Epstein, anybody else that was associated
- 10:49Speaker 1: with Jeffrey Epstein, or anybody else, we will of course
- 10:52Speaker 1: move forward and investigate and prosecute. Blanche said, cool, I
- 10:57Speaker 1: just told you what happened. Are you going to investigate?
- 10:59Speaker 1: Are you going to track the financials of mc squared
- 11:02Speaker 1: and see who was in business with them? We know
- 11:04Speaker 1: Steve Mnuchin was Oh, they didn't tell you that, did they? Well,
- 11:09Speaker 1: guess what I'm here to tell you. Steve Manuchin was
- 11:12Speaker 1: in business with Jean Luke brunel Benski testified in Thursday's
- 11:17Speaker 1: hearing that Blanche has never responded to repeated attempts to
- 11:20Speaker 1: reach them to sit down and recount her story. Blanche
- 11:24Speaker 1: was willing to say that he would meet with Epstein,
- 11:26Speaker 1: victims and council. I understand the restriction that Council has
- 11:30Speaker 1: to be present, Tilli said, I expect that a meeting
- 11:33Speaker 1: to occur before I vote to vote out of this committee,
- 11:36Speaker 1: and I'm trying to get to yes. But this is
- 11:38Speaker 1: a very important part of getting to yes. And good
- 11:42Speaker 1: for Tom Tillis. And the only reason that he's willing
- 11:47Speaker 1: to stand up to Trump is because he's on his
- 11:49Speaker 1: way out. The rest of these guys cowards, chumps, losers.
- 11:56Speaker 1: There should not be any reason why based on what
- 11:59Speaker 1: mister Blanche said yet yesterday. If he said that he
- 12:02Speaker 1: would do it today, then he can certainly do it
- 12:04Speaker 1: over the next two weeks. Till this added. Blanche told
- 12:07Speaker 1: lawmakers during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he would be
- 12:10Speaker 1: happy to meet with victims, but initially said he couldn't
- 12:13Speaker 1: meet with them personally if they were represented by legal counsel,
- 12:17Speaker 1: before correcting himself later in the hearing. I never said
- 12:21Speaker 1: I can't meet with them. I said if they were represented,
- 12:24Speaker 1: I had to meet through council. Blant said, But of
- 12:26Speaker 1: course I can meet with them. I'm the acting Attorney
- 12:29Speaker 1: General of the United States, so yes, I can. Bro's
- 12:32Speaker 1: out here flip flopping like a fish that just got
- 12:34Speaker 1: pulled at a lake meat. I can't meet them. I
- 12:36Speaker 1: can meet them. Maybe I can meet them. Oh, we
- 12:39Speaker 1: might try and hook it up and hang out and
- 12:41Speaker 1: talk to them a little bit, Like, what's this guy
- 12:43Speaker 1: even talking about? And why would anybody confirm him to
- 12:47Speaker 1: become the Attorney General of the United States. Well, there's
- 12:50Speaker 1: only one reason, and that's because they're terrified to anger
- 12:54Speaker 1: Donald Trump. So instead of making waves and doing the
- 12:57Speaker 1: right thing, they're just going to go along to get
- 13:00Speaker 1: so they can avoid being on the radar of Donald Trump,
- 13:04Speaker 1: even if that means letting Jeffrey Epstein and his friends
- 13:08Speaker 1: walk once again. And my advice is keep that in
- 13:11Speaker 1: mind when the election rolls around. All the information that
- 13:16Speaker 1: goes with this episode can be found in the description box.