{"id":601,"date":"2026-07-16T19:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=601"},"modified":"2026-07-16T19:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T19:09:33","slug":"tillis-adds-a-new-condition-to-his-vote-for-blanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=601","title":{"rendered":"Tillis adds a new condition to his vote for Blanche"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Sen. Thom Tillis on Thursday set a new condition for his vote to confirm Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to attorney general: He wants Blanche to meet with Epstein victims first.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=599\">How curbing Congress\u2019 stock-trading took a partisan turn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>During the second day of hearings for Blanche\u2019s nomination as attorney general, Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who will retire at the end of this term, said his support for Blanche could hinge upon Blanche\u2019s willingness to meet with the victims.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI expect that meeting to occur before I\u2019m willing to vote out of this committee and I\u2019m trying to get to \u2018yes,\u2019 but this is a very important part of getting to \u2018yes,\u2019\u201d Tillis said.<\/p>\n<p>The newest potential roadblock for Blanche\u2019s confirmation came during the outside witness day of testimony for Blanche, which included former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a victim of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and a pardon attorney fired by the Trump administration. The Senate Judiciary Committee testimony is aimed at drawing expertise from outside experts to, depending on the viewpoint, bolster or cut down a Cabinet member\u2019s chances of advancing.<\/p>\n<p>The current 11-10 breakdown of the panel could allow any one Republican to vote with Democrats and potentially sink the nomination. The earliest the panel could vote on Blanche\u2019s nomination is likely July 30.<\/p>\n<p>Dani Bensky, one of Epstein\u2019s victims, testified that Blanche, who is currently serving as acting attorney general,\u00a0caused more harm for her and other victims in his supervision of release of the Epstein files. The releases retraumatized her and others and she said the DOJ ignored investigative leads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTodd Blanche has been at the helm of the release of nude images of survivors, the outing of Jane Does and the exposure of more than 100 victims\u2019 identifying information and documents describing horrific acts of abuse, including my own,\u201d Bensky said.<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth Oyer, the former pardon attorney for the Justice Department, said she was fired after refusing to recommend restoring gun rights to Mel Gibson, who was convicted of domestic abuse. Oyer said that Blanche\u2019s testimony about her firing was \u201cflat out false.\u201d She said Blanche sent U.S. marshals to her home when she sought to testify to Congress about her firing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI declined to rubber stamp a political favor for a friend of the president, and it cost me my job,\u201d Oyer said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=597\">Dems split on Massie effort to zero out Israel security aid<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Republicans on the panel did not engage with Oyer\u2019s allegations, instead focusing on commutation recommendations Oyer made during her tenure in the Biden administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., showed a series of posters of victims of death row defendants whose death sentences President Joe Biden commuted on her recommendation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m amazed you have been called here today,\u201d Hawley said.<\/p>\n<p>Oyer was fired two months into Trump\u2019s second term, and Oyer said that was only because she declined to recommend returning Gibson\u2019s gun rights. Oyer said the Justice Department declined to dispute her claim about her firing in an administrative proceeding, and Blanche\u2019s testimony Wednesday about a different reason \u201cmaterialized out of thin air.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Bos, the mother of late Megan Bos, whose body was concealed by an undocumented immigrant, argued that Blanche has helped clamp down on crime from illegal border-crossers. Bos broke down crying several times when speaking about her daughter\u2019s death and the search for her body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo not wait until another mother is sitting where I am. Confirm Todd Blanche,\u201d Bos said.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, both Tillis and the other public holdout, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, pressed Blanche on the status of a $1.8 billion compensation fund for \u201cweaponization\u201d of past Democratic administrations. Though Blanche has said the fund is \u201cdead,\u201d Trump has not agreed to alter the legal settlement that mandates its creation and the DOJ is currently fighting a case in court over the fund.<\/p>\n<p>During the Wednesday hearing, Tillis pushed Blanche to work with him on legislation that would formally abolish the fund.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Oyer said that it was \u201ccontract law 101\u201d that Trump or his children could sue to force the reinstatement of the fund.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=595\">Cruz, Democrats push back on FCC move to lift ownership cap<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Thom Tillis on Thursday set a new condition for his vote to confirm Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to attorney general: He wants Blanche to meet with Epstein victims first. During the second day of hearings for Blanche\u2019s nomination as attorney general, Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who will retire at the end of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-white-house"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tillis adds a new condition to his vote for Blanche - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=601\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tillis adds a new condition to his vote for Blanche - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sen. Thom Tillis on Thursday set a new condition for his vote to confirm Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to attorney general: He wants Blanche to meet with Epstein victims first. 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