Epstein survivor slams demoralizing meeting with | Political News

Jeffrey Epstein survivor Liz Stein detailed the meeting she and other victims of the notorious intercourse offender had with performing Attorney General Todd Blanche, describing it as “demoralizing” and accusing him of merely wanting a job promotion, somewhat than trying for justice.

Stein appeared on MS Now to focus on a Thursday meeting that a group of Epstein survivors had with Blanche. The performing AG spent about an hour at Justice Department headquarters in Washington with the group of accusers, who have criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the disgraced financier’s investigation and a trove of recordsdata associated to his sex-trafficking case.

Immediately after the meeting, survivors who spoke to the media appeared to attain a consensus: the dialogue was unproductive. For Stein, Blanche failed to give her and her fellow victims solutions on when alleged perpetrators could possibly be introduced to justice.

“It had absolutely nothing to do with us, and it had everything to do with Blanche checking a box so that he can get a promotion. I don’t think that we had high expectations going into this meeting. I certainly did not. But I didn’t expect to walk out of the meeting feeling the way that we feel right now. It was demoralizing, to say the very least,” Stein said.

“And I think that Todd Blanche had an opportunity today to throw us some kind of bone. To agree to something. Just if he offered almost anything, I think that we would have been happy that he just offered us something but he completely talked around questions. He didn’t give transparent answers,” she added.

Interestingly, Stein claimed that Blanche recommended they go to the FBI for additional questions and info, advice that the survivor said was not an option.

“What he did say was that he would be open to meeting us again. However, he would be open after we go to the FBI. Survivors have been going to the FBI for 30 years. For 30 years, we’ve been going to the FBI. And why should we have any confidence in the FBI or the DOJ right now?” she said.

“Again, it just it felt like more political posturing and using survivors the way that we’ve been used as political pawns. We’re victims of crime. At the end of the day, we’re victims of the crime of sex trafficking. And the fact that our Department of Justice will not take that seriously is beyond concerning, not just to us, but should be concerning to Americans all across this country,” Stein continued.

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Blanche meets with Epstein accusers

After the meeting, Blanche told reporters that he inspired the accusers to come to the FBI with any info that might help investigators construct circumstances against extra figures tied to Epstein.

But Blanche acknowledged he couldn’t guarantee them extra prosecutions could possibly be introduced. The Justice Department has repeatedly said it is going to examine additional if new info surfaces, but the federal government doesn’t at present have evidence to assist prosecutions against others in Epstein’s orbit.

“It wasn’t all cordial,” Blanche said of Thursday’s meeting. “Because there’s something that they want that I don’t think I can give them, which is some form of justice. And I want to be able to give justice in the form of prosecutions, and maybe we can do a prosecution at some point.”

The political firestorm over Epstein has been a persistent headache for the Trump administration, which launched hundreds of thousands of investigative paperwork over the last yr in response to right-wing clamoring for solutions about the disgraced financier’s crimes and connections to high-profile people.

Other accusers expressed disappointment at Blanche meeting

One accuser, Dani Bensky, expressed frustration after the meeting, saying Blanche appeared to deal with it as “a mere ‘check-the-box’ exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation.”

“He danced around his wording, repeatedly interrupted us and could not commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith or begin to restore trust,” she said in an emailed assertion. She said Blanche supplied “no credible plan to investigate and pursue accountability” past Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage women to be inappropriately abused by Epstein.

Earlier Thursday, Bensky told lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee that girls harmed by Epstein repeatedly requested to meet with Blanche “through multiple channels and he never responded.”

“We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored,” Bensky said.

Blanche has pushed back on ideas that the Justice Department has been dismissive of the Epstein’s accusers, saying officers have spoken with more than 30 representatives of the ladies over the course of their sweeping review of the recordsdata.

“The Department of Justice will always meet with victims or their representatives, and if those victims or their representatives have evidence that anybody committed a crime — whether it has to do with Jeffrey Epstein or anybody else — we will, of course, move forward and investigate and prosecute,” Blanche told reporters.