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Epstein Survivor - Todd Blanche evaded responsibility in hurried meeting with survivors · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Epstein's survivors were left stunned and angry after a meeting
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  Speaker 1: with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Republican Senator Tom Tillis
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  Speaker 1: issued an ultimatum to Blanche to take that meeting if
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  Speaker 1: he wants to win his vote at the committee stage
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  Speaker 1: of the confirmation hearings, survivors knocked Blanche for his approach
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  Speaker 1: to the meeting, saying he was abrasive and condescending. Blant
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  Speaker 1: said the meeting was quote not all cordial, adding survivors
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  Speaker 1: want some form of justice he does not think he
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  Speaker 1: can deliver. Here's how another survivor described Blanche's tone.
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  Speaker 2: It was demoralizing, to say the very least. He completely
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  Speaker 2: talked around questions. He didn't give transparent answers. It felt
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  Speaker 2: like more political posturing and using survivors the way that
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  Speaker 2: we've been used as political puns.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me now is Jess Michael's performer, educator, entrepreneur, and
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  Speaker 1: survivor who was in the room for that meeting. Jess,
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad to see you as always, but I want
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  Speaker 1: you to take us behind the scenes. How did Blanche
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  Speaker 1: set the tone after survivors in some cases had waited
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  Speaker 1: what thirty years for a meeting like this. Did you
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  Speaker 1: sense that he cared about pursuing justice or could he
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  Speaker 1: take the meeting for the sake of saving his nomination.
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  Speaker 3: It was very clear he was taking the meeting because
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  Speaker 3: he wants this promotion, because initially what was passed off
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  Speaker 3: to us was meeting with his assistant. And when we
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  Speaker 3: said no, he then scrambled and he said, okay, well
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  Speaker 3: I could be there before two o'clock, but we had
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  Speaker 3: already left the capitol, and so we couldn't get there
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  Speaker 3: before two o'clock. And we requested another meeting, and finally
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  Speaker 3: he agreed to personally meet with us at four thirty
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  Speaker 3: in the afternoon on Thursday. And I mean, I think
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  Speaker 3: his attempt at empathy and compassion really came out as
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  Speaker 3: patronizing and condescending. So I did not feel that he
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  Speaker 3: was a public servant there addressing crime victims that had
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  Speaker 3: that experienced terrific abuse, not just from the person that
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  Speaker 3: had abused us, but from the system that was supposed
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  Speaker 3: to protect us. There was no acknowledgment of that part
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  Speaker 3: of the story.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious how long the meeting lasted. You met you
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  Speaker 1: about four thirty. How long were you all with him?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was supposed to be thirty minutes, and we
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  Speaker 3: kept him there till six o'clock till pretty much six o'clock.
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  Speaker 3: It was a long meeting. It was very tense. There
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  Speaker 3: was you know, I have to tell you. We agreed
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  Speaker 3: on one thing. There was one thing that everyone in
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  Speaker 3: the room agreed upon, which was interesting. He agreed that
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  Speaker 3: the previous FBI had FBI agencies had just completely botched
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  Speaker 3: the investigation. And I set out loud. I said yes,
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  Speaker 3: I said there was a lack of investigation like when
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  Speaker 3: we gave leads, and he said yes, and he pointed
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  Speaker 3: to me and he said, yes, a lack of investigation.
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  Speaker 3: And my next question but then I didn't get a
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  Speaker 3: chance to ask it because we were cut off. My
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  Speaker 3: next question was going to be if this Department of
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  Speaker 3: Justice agrees that this was a botched FBI investigation over
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  Speaker 3: twenty plus years. Who investigates the FBI when they botch investigations?
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  Speaker 3: When we're sitting there telling you that the information is
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  Speaker 3: in the files. And he could not agree that there
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  Speaker 3: were any existing leads in the files as they are
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  Speaker 3: right now. He would commit to nothing. He would commit
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  Speaker 3: not commit to looking for the rest of Maria's report
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  Speaker 3: that she gave in nineteen ninety six. He wouldn't commit
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  Speaker 3: to any hope for us or any good faith measure
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  Speaker 3: of Hey, we've got the files, Sure, let me get
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  Speaker 3: a team on it to look through it.
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  Speaker 2: We hear you.
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  Speaker 3: So if you just keep saying there's nothing there, we're
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  Speaker 3: not going to investigate this. That's somebody not hearing you,
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  Speaker 3: over and over and over again, and it's extremely frustrating.
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  Speaker 1: Another aspect of the files is that Annie Farmer pointed
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  Speaker 1: out Blanche refused to release DOJ documents on internal discussions
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  Speaker 1: about charging Epstein, adding that explanations for his nine hour
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  Speaker 1: interview with Glenn Maxwell and then her transferred to a
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  Speaker 1: less secure prison were dissatisfactory and contrived.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, these.
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  Speaker 1: Seem like reasonable requests. Did he go anywhere near answering those?
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  Speaker 3: He did not. And I can't tell you how many
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  Speaker 3: different times and how many different ways the survivors in
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  Speaker 3: the room that had their information leak, no matter how
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  Speaker 3: many ways they described how harmful it was, he could
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  Speaker 3: not take responsibility for that at all. In fact, he
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  Speaker 3: he seemed confused why we had demanded him and not
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  Speaker 3: his human trafficking expert. He couldn't seem to understand, like, well,
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  Speaker 3: I didn't you know, I don't really know what it
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  Speaker 3: is you want from me. I didn't ask you guys
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  Speaker 3: to commit to anything, so I'm not going to commit
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  Speaker 3: to anything. He really evaded responsibility by being confused about
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  Speaker 3: why we were even there and why we were talking
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  Speaker 3: to him.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you bring up a good point, and I
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  Speaker 1: want to have our director, Josh, play the SoundBite from
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  Speaker 1: Danielle Benski. She's a teacher, but she is one of
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  Speaker 1: those who had unredacted details about her life released. Josh,
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  Speaker 1: let's play this.
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  Speaker 4: These documents contained disturbing yet incomplete accounts of my abuse.
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  Speaker 4: They were available not only for the entire world to see,
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  Speaker 4: but my child, my students, my friends, my employers, my colleagues,
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  Speaker 4: and my family. It was humiliating.
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  Speaker 3: Where's my FBI three.
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  Speaker 4: Two exposed to Jane Doe had fought for decades to
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  Speaker 4: conceal her identity. It's been absolutely devastating.
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  Speaker 3: How to blanche to defend that.
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  Speaker 4: He didn't.
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  Speaker 3: He didn't. He didn't respond to any of those concerns. Again,
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  Speaker 3: he minimized what we were saying. He kind of glossed
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  Speaker 3: over it, and it was so it felt like we
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  Speaker 3: were hitting a brick wall when we were trying to
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  Speaker 3: talk with him about but what about this? But why
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  Speaker 3: why can't you look at that? You know, we were
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  Speaker 3: giving him information that he could have talked with us about,
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  Speaker 3: but we were gas lit, we were skipped over. It
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  Speaker 3: was frustrating, to say the least.
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  Speaker 1: Jess Michaels, thank you for coming on and illuminating so
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  Speaker 1: much that we just don't know about. It was important
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  Speaker 1: that you do so, and we will see if there's
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  Speaker 1: any reaction on Capitol Hill from those who have to
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  Speaker 1: consider his confirmation coming up thanks to what you've talked about.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, appreciate you.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you,