A woman who says she was victimized by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein called Sen. John Cornyn's decision to advance Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination "really depressing", a rebuke aimed at a lawmaker she once considered an ally against trafficking.
Dani Bensky, who has identified herself as one of Epstein's victims, went public with her frustration Tuesday after Cornyn joined every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to push Blanche's nomination to the full Senate floor. The 12-10 party-line vote came days after the acting attorney general formally rescinded the controversial $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund," a concession Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina had demanded before they would support the nominee.
Bensky's complaint is narrow but pointed. She is not arguing against Blanche on ideological grounds. She is arguing that Cornyn, a senator she credits with a strong record on sex-trafficking enforcement, abandoned Epstein's victims by voting to confirm a nominee without first securing accountability for the Justice Department's handling of Epstein-related files.
For weeks, Cornyn and Tillis held real power over the confirmation process. They were the only two Republicans standing between Blanche and a committee vote, and Cornyn had publicly withheld his support, demanding written answers from the DOJ before he would move forward.
The issue was the anti-weaponization fund, a $1.776 billion pool created by the DOJ as part of a settlement in President Trump's lawsuit against the IRS. Critics from both parties had raised concerns about the fund's scope and purpose. Cornyn and Tillis refused to back Blanche until the acting attorney general put in writing that the fund was dead.
On Sunday evening, that written order arrived. Blanche issued a directive confirming, as AP News reported, "beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund." Cornyn said the document addressed the "concerns" he and Tillis shared. By Tuesday, both senators voted yes.
The settlement that created the fund also granted Trump, his children, and their businesses immunity from future IRS probes, a provision that remains intact.
Democrats immediately questioned the durability of the concession. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois argued the fund "can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general." Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware went further, telling reporters the fund and its accompanying liability release "might well be the most brazenly corrupt and unethical thing this administration has attempted."
Whether the rescission holds or not, the political reality is straightforward: Cornyn and Tillis got a memo, not a statute. And they gave up the only leverage they had to get it.
Bensky's frustration centers on what she sees as a missed opportunity. She told MS NOW interviewer Mychael Schnell that she had believed Cornyn, of all senators, might hold the line, not over the anti-weaponization fund, but over the DOJ's treatment of Epstein victims during the release of case files.
Bensky told the interviewer she had hoped Cornyn would act because of his record on trafficking enforcement:
"I was really hoping that it would be John Cornyn, to be honest, because he has been such a great advocate and proponent for putting those who have abused and... [organized] sex trafficking rings away."
She said the DOJ had released Epstein-related files that included nude photos of victims and exposed their personal information, a process she described as the department committing "its own crime."
Bensky did not hold back about what Cornyn's vote means for his legacy:
"And so, to see that this is how he's going to end his career and his legacy, it's really depressing."
She added that despite the release of victims' private information, "there's just no accountability for that."
Blanche did sit down with a group of Epstein victims last month at Tillis's urging. But the meeting did not produce the reassurance victims were seeking. Jess Michaels, another Epstein survivor, described the encounter to MS NOW's Alex Witt in blunt terms:
"We were giving him information that he could have talked with us about, but we were gaslit, we were skipped over. It was frustrating, to say the least."
Victims have criticized both Blanche and former Attorney General Pam Bondi for delays in releasing Epstein files in accordance with federal law, heavy redactions within the documents, and the publication of victims' private photos and identifying information. Democrats raised related concerns during Blanche's earlier confirmation hearing, though the hearing itself became a flashpoint over how those questions were framed.
The DOJ's handling of the Epstein files remains an open wound for victims who cooperated with federal investigators and expected protection in return. Instead, Bensky says, their cooperation was repaid with exposure.
With Cornyn and Tillis back in the fold, every Republican on the Judiciary Committee voted to advance Blanche. The 12-10 party-line result sends the nomination to the full Senate, where Blanche, who is currently serving as acting attorney general, is expected to face another contentious vote.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa praised the resolution, saying he was "grateful" that Blanche, the White House, and the holdout senators "worked in good faith to solve" the dispute. Grassley said the formal rescission of the fund and the clarification of the settlement's liability release "put this issue to bed once and for all."
But the question of permanence lingers. The rescission came via executive order, not legislation. Trump did not sign off on Blanche's memo. Cornyn himself had previously noted that Trump could sue to revive the fund, a risk that a Sunday directive from an acting attorney general does nothing to eliminate.
Tillis, for his part, had been equally vocal in opposing the fund before the deal. He dubbed it a "payout pot for punks", colorful language that made his eventual capitulation all the more conspicuous.
The Washington Examiner reported that Trump had threatened to withdraw Blanche's nomination entirely if Cornyn and Tillis did not fall in line, pressure that appears to have worked.
Several questions remain unanswered. No floor vote has been scheduled. The specific federal law governing the release of Epstein files has not been identified in public reporting. And the full scope of what the DOJ released, beyond nude photos and personal information of victims, remains unclear.
What is clear is the sequence: Cornyn held leverage, demanded a written concession, got a memo that may not survive the week, and voted yes. Epstein's victims asked for accountability over the release of their most private information. They got a meeting while the real negotiations happened elsewhere.
Bensky's criticism is not partisan. She is not asking Cornyn to oppose a Republican president or sabotage a confirmation. She is asking why a senator with a strong record on trafficking chose a bureaucratic memo over a fight for the people whose files the government exposed. That is a fair question, and so far, no one in the Senate has offered a serious answer.
When victims cooperate with the federal government and get their privacy shredded in return, the least their allies in Congress can do is demand more than a Sunday night memo before signing off.