Outgoing Republican Sen. Thom Tillis threatened Thursday to block the nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general if he doesn’t meet with women who were abused by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee and I’m trying to get to ‘yes,’ but this is a very important part of getting to ‘yes,’” Tillis said during the second day of Blanche’s Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Politico reported.

Blanche, who’s been serving as acting attorney general since President Donald Trump fired Pam Bondi in April, wasn’t present, according to Politico.

On Wednesday, outgoing Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., pressed Blanche to meet with 10 Epstein survivors who attended the first day of the hearing, but Blanche said he was “prohibited from meeting directly with them.”

“I have met with counsel for survivors, as have many people in the Department of Justice. But if they are represented by counsel, we will work with their counsel,” he said.

Any meeting with Epstein survivors would have to take place before July 30, when the Judiciary Committee will likely reconvene to vote on Trump’s nomination of Blanche, his former criminal defense lawyer, according to Politico.

A Justice Department spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Independent regarding Tillis’ demand.

But shortly after Tillis’ remarks, Blanche told reporters that he’d hoped to meet with Epstein survivors but it “didn’t work out,” according to The Associated Press.

Blanche also reportedly said officials were trying to arrange a meeting later Thursday or on another day.

“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.

A single Republican vote against Blanche would kill his nomination if all Democrats on the Judiciary Committee also oppose him, which appears likely.

Outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas pressed Blanche about the Trump administration’s controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund during Wednesday’s hearing and later told reporters he had “concerns” about the nominee but wouldn’t decide on his confirmation “until we actually vote, The Hill reported.

During Thursday’s hearing, Epstein accuser Dani Bensky testified that multiple women harmed by the wealthy sex offender sought meetings with Blanche “through multiple channels and he never responded,” according to AP.

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

Blanche testified Wednesday that DOJ officials have spoken with more than 30 representatives of Esptein’s survivors, and he apologized for blunders in the release of the Epstein files that included failing to obscure nude photos that showed the faces of potential victims.

“I am sorry that in about 1% of the documents mistakes were made,” Blanche said. “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.”

Blanche took control of the Justice Department when Trump fired Bondi following reports that he was unhappy with her handling of the release of the Justice Department’s Epstein files, as well as the failed prosecutions of New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, whom the president has portrayed as political enemies.

In November, a federal judge in Virginia dismissed both cases on grounds that interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump lawyer, was illegally appointed by the DOJ and didn’t have legal authority to file the indictments, which accused James of mortgage fraud and Comey of lying to Congress.

Comey has since been charged in North Carolina with threatening Trump’s life by posting a 2025 social media image of seashells arranged to show the numbers 86 and 47, which federal prosecutors allege was a call for violence against the president.