Epstein Survivors Say Republicans Ghosted Them Before Blanche Vote

Republican Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn each reneged on their promises to meet with victims of Jeffrey Epstein, with Tillis even leaving them waiting in his office for 45 minutes before they gave up.

A group of Epstein survivors on Tuesday accused Blanche and Cornyn of going back on their word, as the senators prepared to vote in favor of Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general after he provided a weak promise in writing to kill President Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

“The treatment we received from senators throughout this process was just as revealing. Senator Tillis publicly invited us, on camera, to come to his office and promised to meet with us. We did. We waited for 45 minutes in his lobby, only to be told by a staffer he would not meet with us after all,” the survivors wrote in a joint statement.

“Senator Cornyn also refused to hear directly from survivors before casting his vote. Senators Tillis and Cornyn were not willing to sit across from us and answer for the vote they were preparing to cast. If they believed they were doing the right thing, they should have had the courage to look survivors in the eye and tell us why. The message was unmistakable: They wanted us to go away. We are not going away.”

Tillis’s snubbing is particularly nasty given that he made a big fuss about not voting for Blanche’s confirmation unless he met with Epstein survivors. Blanche did eventually meet with survivors, but it did not go well, as survivors reported he told them to “get to the point” and to talk to the FBI instead. Survivor Danielle Bensky called the meeting “a box-checking exercise to secure Tillis’ vote,” and noted he “offered no meaningful explanation for how the redaction failures happened, who approved the release, or what steps he would take to prevent survivors from being exposed again.”

Before Tillis ghosted the survivors, he promised on camera to invite them to his office.

“I wanna meet—not with the attorneys, but with the survivors. And have a discussion about that stuff,” Tillis said. “I wanna see specific action items. And some of that could even have to do with investigations. My office is right around the corner.... I gotta rush … but I wanna have that meeting. I don’t want suits in the room. I want victims, and me.”

Tillis and Cornyn are both outgoing senators who would have lost nothing for being genuine and transparent. Instead of actually acting upon any of their own stated principles, they opted to play political theatre with the emotions of these survivors, unable to even offer them the basic decency of coming to a meeting they said they’d be at. We’re talking about women who survived abuse from perhaps the most infamous predator of the century.

Republican Senator John Cornyn tried to claim Tuesday that Republicans didn’t have any power over President Trump.

After Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Cornyn, voted to send acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation to the full Senate Tuesday, a reporter asked the Texas senator whether he was concerned about Trump continuing to say he wants to find a way to pay January 6 insurrectionists.

“Well, there’s nothing we could do to, uh, rein in the president when he said he likes the [anti-weaponization] fund and wishes it still exists, but the fact of the matter is it’s dead, and that’s all we could do under the circumstances,” Cornyn replied.

Cornyn and his fellow Republicans have had countless opportunities to rein in the president. After making a big deal about Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund, Cornyn and his colleague, Senator Thom Tillis, settled for a weak agreement full of loopholes. And last week, Republicans shot down an amendment that would have killed Trump’s tax audit immunity, the other big issue with the president’s IRS settlement. In June, all but three Republicans voted against a Democratic attempt to kill the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Senate Democrats also introduced the “Drain the Slush Fund Act” in June, but no Republicans have signed off on it. It all fits a pattern in Trump’s second term: Republicans have a problem with something Trump has proposed or is doing, then the administration reaches out to them, and then they fall in line.

President Donald Trump has ordered contractors to redo weeks of work on a new helipad for the White House, after already demanding workers speed up construction.

For more than a month, contractors have worked around the clock to complete Trump’s helipad, which he directed to be built without any official notice. Now the contractors have been forced to take apart their work, according to photographs obtained by The Washington Post. It’s unclear how much money the additional alterations will cost, or if the helipad will be completed on schedule.

In early July, Clark Construction received a last-minute demand to complete the helipad by September 17, adding an estimated $875,000 to the price tag in the process. The government’s request, which indicated that Trump hoped to have the helipad ready for an “upcoming state visit,” was made just days after the president invited his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to come on September 24.

That’s not the only reason it’s an awkward time to be ordering redos. The Department of Justice recently admitted in court that the lining peeling off the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of “flawed” application by Trump’s handpicked contractors.

Clark Construction similarly received a no-bid contract to construct the new helipad. Now, it seems the former slumlord may be finding it increasingly difficult to manifest his visions of grandeur.

The helipad is part of a $13 million renovation project that also included work on the South Portico and driveway. Previously, Trump announced that Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin that builds Marine One helicopters, would cover the cost of a $5 million or $6 million helipad, complete with a White House seal carved out of granite. It seems likely that American taxpayers will pay for the rest.

This is the latest renovation project Trump has demanded at the White House, which the president treats like one of his gaudy resorts and not federal land. Last month, the front of the White House was covered in a massive tarp as the front doors underwent security improvements and repairs were made to the iconic columns on the North Portico. And lest we forget: There’s also the demolition of the East Wing, the paving of the Rose Garden, and the president’s outrageous $600 million ballroom.

The allegations against Representative Max Miller have become so loud that the Ohio Republican has decided to launch a House ethics investigation into himself in a flagrant attempt to salvage his spiraling midterm campaign.

“In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family,” Miller wrote on X Tuesday. “I have absolutely nothing to hide.

“We will be providing the committee all necessary documents needed for a detail examination,” he continued. “The accusations continue to change, but my facts stay the same. I am looking forward to my colleagues reading everything for themselves.”

Shortly after his post, the House Ethics Committee announced it was opening an investigation into Miller. The investigation will effectively give Miller exactly what he wants: a chance to stay in a midterm race that he is almost certainly going to lose. Miller has repeatedly rejected calls for his exit, despite mounting public pressure to do so. Wednesday, August 5, marks the last day for Miller to withdraw.

Emily Moreno, Miller’s ex-wife, has accused the congressman of physically hurting her and their two-year-old daughter. In court filings and police reports, Moreno has charged Miller with throwing her against a wall, leaving an “obvious grab mark on her upper arm”; throwing scalding water on her (an incident that Miller refuted as “horseplay”); and having “held a gun to her head.” Moreno also recounted an instance in which their daughter told her, “Daddy kill you.”

Medical records submitted during the couple’s custody dispute cited several injuries to their young daughter, as well, including a broken collarbone that Moreno claimed occurred during Miller’s care.

Moreno’s father, Senator Bernie Moreno, accused Miller Tuesday of holding his toddler’s favorite stuffed animal “hostage,” even as she struggled to sleep without it.

“This is truly the seventh level of hell,” Senator Moreno told CBS News Tuesday. “My daughter lives in constant fear of this man, not like something that’s existential, but deeply in her heart, she fears what this guy is capable of.”

Miller has categorically denied the allegations and sued his ex-wife for defamation in May. He was never charged with a crime, and the Department of Children and Family Services did not find evidence to substantiate allegations of child abuse, according to court filings.

Miller published audio recordings of some of their private disagreements in an attempt to prove his innocence, but in doing so incidentally publicized more accusations against him by his wife related to suspected drug abuse. In one clip, Moreno can be heard accusing her ex-husband of keeping needles by his bedside and abusing THC and weed products.

While publishing the audio recordings, Miller also accidentally shared a folder that contained images of his daughter, including one that appears to show her genitals. His ex-wife’s lawyers warned the image “could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material.”

It took the Ohio senator weeks to get publicly involved in the dangerous affair affecting his daughter and granddaughter, but Moreno finally denounced Miller on Sunday, writing in a post on X that the Donald Trump–backed Republican should “not serve in the House of Representatives.”

“I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake,” the senator said.

Trump has repeatedly backed Miller, despite the loaded allegations. On Monday, Trump insisted to reporters that Miller is a “good person.”

“I mean I always thought he was a very good person. And I’m going to let the families figure that out,” Trump said. “It’s accusations. And I’m going to let them figure that out.”

But by that evening, even the president could see the writing on the wall for Miller’s November prospects. The president reportedly phoned Miller to explain that “things aren’t looking good” and that the road ahead to reelection would be tough, multiple sources familiar with the call told Axios.

The scandals have only continued to mount for Miller: By Tuesday afternoon, the Daily Mail had obtained and circulated images of Miller holding weed gummies, as well as of the needles that were purportedly kept by Miller’s bedside.

This story has been updated.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro hauled a crate of evidence to the White House Monday evening in a bid to convince President Donald Trump that vandals weren’t responsible for damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Trump is reportedly considering firing Pirro over the Department of Justice’s admission in court that the pool’s peeling lining was the result of “flawed” renovation work, not vandals.

Pirro brought a large carton of evidence collected by the Department of the Interior to a private meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, sources familiar told CBS News Tuesday. The evidence was reportedly used to exonerate former U.S. Olympian David Hearn. Later, Pirro was spotted leaving the White House dragging her enormous box of proof behind her.

The occasionally heated meeting took place shortly after the president lashed out at her during a press conference. Since then, Trump has made no indication that he was the least bit convinced, but federal prosecutors have moved to drop the charges against the remaining two alleged vandals.

In a filing last week, federal prosecutors admitted that the DOJ hadn’t fully investigated the matter because the pool hadn’t actually been drained, and the lining was “mostly obscured” by water. Federal prosecutors blamed the Department of the Interior for initially claiming that the damage was “entirely caused by vandals.”

Pirro has been criticized for mounting prosecutions against a group of alleged vandals before fully investigating.