An Epstein survivor told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that her road to justice has been made more difficult by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Dani Bensky said her attorneys submitted 350 names to the Department of Justice in December ahead of its release of the Epstein Files to ensure proper redactions. Despite that, her identity was revealed twice in the first document dump, then later her name, phone number, former addresses and jobs in the second dump.
"It's been absolutely devastating," Bensky said.
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Bensky says hundreds of victims' names were exposed, as well as incomplete accounts of abuse.
"They were available not only for the entire world to see but my child, my students, my friends, my employers," Bensky said.
Blanche said the DOJ fixed issues when they were alerted, but Bensky says she had to fight for months to get her name taken down. Bensky also pushed back on Blanche's claim that there are no remaining investigative leads.
"We deserve to be heard directly, not dismissed and ignored," Bensky said. "There are numerous investigative leads that must be followed despite Mr. Blanche's claim that there are none. The survivors in the room know there are investigative leads because they are our stories."
Bensky pointed out Blanche met with longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell for nine hours — but survivors have never been approached by prosecutors despite providing information to the FBI.
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Meanwhile, Blanche did meet with survivors Thursday afternoon following pressure from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who said he would not vote for Blanche's confirmation until he had met with those women.
"I expect that meeting to occur before I'm willing to vote out of this committee," Tillis said. "I'm trying to get to yes but this is a very important part of getting to yes."
