Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) called out Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during a heated hearing on Tuesday — forcing him to address Jeffrey Epstein survivors whose identities were revealed.
Blanche was testifying before the Senate Appropriations committee on Capitol Hill when Murray pushed him to apologize to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and the Department of Justice’s release of unredacted victim names in the Epstein files. The two got in a fiery back-and-forth over her questions.
“That is so not the question I’m asking,” Murray said, telling Blanche he needed to answer her questions.
Blanche said he was trying to answer the questions in order when she cut him off again.
“The question I want you to answer is, will you apologize to the victims whose names, sensitive personal information and even nude photos were not redacted by your department? Will you apologize?” Murray asked.
“Of course,” Blanche said. “We never want to release a victim’s name.”
Murray interjected again and Blanche appeared frustrated.
“Can I answer the question, please?” Blanche said.
“I’m asking if you’ll apologize,” Murray said again.
“And I just said yes, but I wanted to — I would like an explanation to be given to that,” Blanche said.
Murray also pressed him to answer her questions about the Justice Department’s controversial anti-weaponization fund, The New York Times reported. Blanche had said the compensation plan for Americans who claim they have been victims of political prosecutions was “not a slush fund.”
“This is corruption that has never been more blatant or more widespread,” Murray said.
“What is happening is you write the check, Trump and his cronies cash it. American taxpayers who are already being whacked with high prices are going to foot the bill. That is what we are seeing today and that is what many of us are really, really angry about,” Murray added.
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