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Epstein survivor Danielle Bensky reacts to last GOP holdout backing Blanche · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: With the vote secured, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is
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  Speaker 1: set to be confirmed permanently to his role, which means
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  Speaker 1: he'll continue leading the government's response to the Epstein scandal.
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  Speaker 1: Blanch's handling of the release of the Epstein files was
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  Speaker 1: a key point of concern for some Republican senators, including
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  Speaker 1: Lisa Murkowski, who said she will be a no on
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  Speaker 1: Blanche's nomination. Survivors of Epstein's abuse have been urging lawmakers
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  Speaker 1: to block Blanche's nomination, and several survivors accused Blanche of
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  Speaker 1: ignoring their concerns when he met with them after his confirmation. Hearing,
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  Speaker 1: one of those survivors who has been ringing the alarm bells,
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  Speaker 1: Danielle Benski, joins me, Now, I want to get your
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  Speaker 1: initial thoughts on how we came to this point, because
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  Speaker 1: when I was reading Senator Murkowski's statement about why she
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  Speaker 1: was a no, she specifically talked about the meeting that
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  Speaker 1: she had with you and other survivors as one of
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  Speaker 1: the reasons that led her to vote no. And I
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  Speaker 1: wonder if you can talk about having that meeting. But
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  Speaker 1: then also, you didn't meet with.
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  Speaker 2: Senator Cassidy, right, right, Yeah, so we have all kinds
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  Speaker 2: of meetings, right, all kinds of offices, and I would
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  Speaker 2: say we have those that just won't be with us
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  Speaker 2: at all. You have some like Tillis who promise meetings
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  Speaker 2: and never follow through, which are that just really feels
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  Speaker 2: like a door slammed in the face and it does
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  Speaker 2: not feel good. But then you have some offices that
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  Speaker 2: are really incredible with us. And Rakowski's office has been
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  Speaker 2: very open, verier receptive. We've sent them leads. I know
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  Speaker 2: a couple of survivors from Alaska actually had a meeting
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  Speaker 2: with her, and we're able to really talk through the issues,
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  Speaker 2: and so she was really listening and ready to hear us,
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  Speaker 2: And so that is that's it's not just a win.
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  Speaker 2: It's just a win for survivors and everybody that's involved,
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  Speaker 2: for victims of this country. And I'm glad that she
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  Speaker 2: heard us.
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  Speaker 1: Do wonder if Cassidy's decision could have been different if
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  Speaker 1: he had met totally.
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  Speaker 2: I do think that, you know, it's why we urge
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  Speaker 2: so many of these senators to meet with us, because
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  Speaker 2: we have a lot of information and this case is huge.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about thirty years of trauma, five administrations, all
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  Speaker 2: of that in the investigative leads, but we also need
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  Speaker 2: to talk about their adaption side of this, which I
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  Speaker 2: think a lot of the time people don't understand the
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  Speaker 2: severity of what was redacted and then unredacted and then
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  Speaker 2: redacted again. And then there's there's a whole timeline here
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  Speaker 2: to see that it was a game, and it was
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  Speaker 2: so abusive and re traumatizing for victims and survivors, and
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  Speaker 2: that was at Todd Blanche's hands. That's not a Jeffrey
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  Speaker 2: Epstein's hands. That happened this year, not thirty years ago.
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  Speaker 2: So I think there's a lot of information there that
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  Speaker 2: we need to be able to share, and the only
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  Speaker 2: way we can do that is by taking meetings.
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  Speaker 1: One of the other things that happened during Blanche's tenure
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  Speaker 1: as assistant or rather the number two at DOJ was
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  Speaker 1: meeting with Delane Maxwell, And I wonder now that he
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  Speaker 1: looks likely to be installed as the permanent ag do
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  Speaker 1: you worry about a pardon or something else with her.
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  Speaker 2: We've had a lot of senators and congressional raps tell
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  Speaker 2: us that there's no way a pardon could happen. We
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  Speaker 2: would never stand for it, but it seems like the
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  Speaker 2: president and the administration moves on whatever track they want,
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  Speaker 2: So that does feel a little bit scary for I
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  Speaker 2: think a lot of survivors, and I think we do
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  Speaker 2: worry about that.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, can I ask how it feels to have done
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  Speaker 1: just this latest round of out sea and you and
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  Speaker 1: I often see each other in the right I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's weird to be on set here together because I
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  Speaker 1: see you as you are there pounding the pavement, going
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  Speaker 1: to these offices, attending these hearings, listening, and I would
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  Speaker 1: imagine being re traumatized in the process of just trying
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  Speaker 1: to get justice and make it clear for the next
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  Speaker 1: generation of women that this kind of abuse can't stand.
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  Speaker 1: And I wonder, in this moment, seeing Blanche likely to
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  Speaker 1: be confirmed, what it feels like.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's confusing to survivors across this country
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  Speaker 2: as well as to all of us involved in this,
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  Speaker 2: because everyone knows the facts, right and you see somebody
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  Speaker 2: like I was just thinking about Senator Marino recently and
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  Speaker 2: what he's going through and what his daughter is going through.
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  Speaker 2: So many of us have also experienced and we have
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  Speaker 2: been victims of domestic assault and abuse as well, and
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  Speaker 2: my heart just breaks for his daughter. And I don't
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  Speaker 2: know how somebody who is going through that and seeing
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  Speaker 2: how much the system desperately needs to work for this
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  Speaker 2: to end violence against women. I don't know how somebody
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  Speaker 2: who is in the throes of that can stand for
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  Speaker 2: somebody being the head law enforcement in our country who
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  Speaker 2: does not It's not even that he doesn't support survivors
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  Speaker 2: but actually has exposed survivors. It's there's a disconnect there
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  Speaker 2: that I don't I can't fathom, And so it's why
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  Speaker 2: we keep pushing, and we keep hoping that senators will
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  Speaker 2: do the right thing, and we hope that this country
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  Speaker 2: understands how important it is to make sure that victims
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  Speaker 2: are heard, survivors are heard, and that we stop violence
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  Speaker 2: against women, girls and victims across this country.
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  Speaker 1: As you hope very quickly. Is there a hope for
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  Speaker 1: what Todd Blanche could do.
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  Speaker 2: We hope that he opens investigations. We hope that he
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  Speaker 2: will just take take violence against women very seriously instead
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  Speaker 2: of passing it off like you know, in that meeting,
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  Speaker 2: I think many of us felt like we were just
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  Speaker 2: a thorn in his side, and we were talking about
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  Speaker 2: one of the largest sex trafficking rings in this country,
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  Speaker 2: and there's just no no weight, no gravity, no understanding,
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  Speaker 2: and it's a real shame. So I hope that if
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  Speaker 2: he is appointed, he has a real change of heart
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  Speaker 2: and he understands the importance of this.
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  Speaker 1: Danny Benski, thank you for coming on and talking to
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  Speaker 1: us about where things sit.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.