WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican senator whose vote Todd Blanche needs to advance his nomination as attorney general suggested Thursday that his support hinges on Blanche first meeting with Jeffrey Epstein's accusers.
Sen. Thom Tillis' comments came a day after Blanche was pressed during his confirmation hearing over the Justice Department's handling of millions of files related to Epstein's sex trafficking investigation.
Tillis said Thursday that he has a “positive predisposition” toward Blanche but has not made up his mind. Tillis pointed to Blanche's remarks Wednesday expressing a willingness to meet Epstein's accusers, and added that he expects such a meeting to occur before he's "willing to vote out of this committee.”
Shortly after Tillis' remarks, Blanche arrived at a Senate office building, where Blanche told reporters he had hoped to meet with Epstein accusers but “it didn't work out.” Blanche said they were trying to find another time later Thursday or another day to schedule the meeting.
“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 said.
One Epstein accuser, Dani Bensky, told lawmakers earlier Thursday that women harmed by Epstein repeatedly asked 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 suggestions that the Justice Department has been dismissive of the late financier's accusers, saying Wednesday that officials have spoken with more than 30 representatives of the women over the course of its sweeping review of the files.
Blanche has also defended the department's staggered release of the Epstein files, a process beset by problems, including redaction errors that left exposed nude photos showing the faces of potential victims.
Blanche said during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he takes responsibility for mistakes that were made, but noted that department lawyers were given a "herculean task” to quickly review millions of files for release. Blanche said department lawyers took pains to protect the women involved, and quickly fixed any errors that were found.
“I am sorry that in about 1% of the documents mistakes were made,” Blanche said Wednesday. “But what I will say on top of that is we put tons of resources to rectifying those mistakes immediately, including pulling down documents within minutes of being informed that there were mistakes.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump fired the new top U.S. prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions.
Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was sworn in as U.S. attorney before 8 a.m. at the U.S. courthouse in downtown Seattle. In a phone interview, he said he then went to the U.S. Attorney's Office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position ended in February.
As he waited in a lobby, Rogoff said, he received an email from the Trump administration informing him he'd been removed. He is consulting with other lawyers about suing over his firing, he said.
Presidents normally appoint U.S. attorneys, the top federal prosecutor in each judicial district. The positions require Senate confirmation, except in temporary appointments. When temporary appointments expire before a nominee is confirmed, the judges in a judicial district can name a U.S. attorney.
But under Trump, the Justice Department has sought to leave unconfirmed prosecutors in their positions indefinitely, often through novel personnel maneuvers.
“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media post Wednesday. He added that the judges who appointed Rogoff “abandoned the time-honored process of consultation with the administration so that the selected U.S. Attorney is qualified to serve in the administration.”
Trump named Floyd, who previously served as an immigration judge, interim U.S. attorney last October but never forwarded his nomination to the Senate. When Floyd’s time as interim U.S. attorney expired, Trump simply shifted his title, a tactic the administration has also tried in other federal judicial districts: It named him first assistant U.S. attorney, while leaving the top post empty.
In May, a U.S. appeals court panel expressed skepticism that the maneuver was legal. The federal judges in the city decided to take applications for the position, and it appointed a bipartisan panel to review the applications.
On Wednesday morning the court — comprising 17 active and senior judges appointed by five presidents — issued its unanimous order naming Rogoff the U.S. attorney for western Washington.
Democratic Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who had opposed Floyd for the U.S. attorney job, blasted Rogoff's quick firing.
“Throughout his career, he has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service, and he was appointed legally by the federal judges in the Western District of Washington,” the senator said in a written statement. “This administration doesn’t want to deal with advice and consent—they just want to install cronies to carry out a corrupt political agenda.”
In December, Alina Habbaresigned as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.
Lindsey Halligan, who pursued indictments against a pair of Trump’s adversaries, left her position as an acting U.S. attorney in Virginia after a judge concluded her appointment was unlawful and that indictments she brought against James and former FBI Director James Comey must be dismissed.
The judges there named James Hundley, who had handled criminal and civil cases for more than 30 years, but the administration fired him. It also fired a court-appointed U.S. attorney in northern New York.
Rogoff, who spent 20 years as a state prosecutor and six as a federal prosecutor before becoming a state judge, said he knew the administration might fire him immediately. But he said he had no qualms about the potential conflict he was walking into. Being U.S. attorney is “the best job there is” for a prosecutor, he said.
“I'm really proud of my career," Rogoff said. "The fact that the judges of this district — most of whom I've spent my career appearing in front of, or trying cases against, or working with — believed that I was the right person to do this work is just really humbling and amazing.”
FILE - King County Superior Court Judge Roger Rogoff stands in court on Oct. 10, 2016, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
