TRANSCRIPT: At A Press Conference Alongside Epstein Survivors, Leader Schumer Condemned Senate Republicans For Their Blind Support Of Trump’s Corrupt Lackey Todd Blanche

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke at a press conference with Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Peter Welch (D-VT) and Epstein survivors condemning Senate Republicans for continuing to support Trump's nomination of Todd Blanche to be Attorney General despite Blanche's ongoing mishandling of the Epstein files. Schumer urged Republicans to listen to survivors and vote against Blanche's confirmation. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks:

Anyone who can represent a known pathological liar like Donald Trump can have no integrity. You can't have integrity if you represent Donald Trump because he is such an inveterate liar, and that person, of course, should never, never, never be Attorney General.

The central question of today's hearing was not what Trump wants but what Republicans do.

Senate Republicans let Blanche off the hook. That is disgraceful.

Todd Blanche spent his confirmation hearing doing what he always does, defending the indefensible. He really tried to claim that this administration has been transparent about the Epstein investigation. Transparent? Blanche doesn't get to talk about transparency when he's still withholding three million pages of the Epstein files.

Stop that transparency talk. Todd Blanche, where are the files? We are all waiting. All of America is waiting. All of America is waiting.

Blanche isn't releasing the files because he knows his boss's name is written all over him.

These survivors have already been through hell. And Blanche put them through it again with his mishandling of this investigation.

How can we trust a word that comes out of Blanche's mouth when he's already lied to Congress under oath about the Epstein survivors?

The only truth that Blanche said today was when he stated, "I'm his lawyer," referring to Donald Trump. That was about it.

Blanche tried to correct himself, but that was an all-time Freudian slip. That's who he was. That's who he is. That's who he'll always be. Not an Attorney General for the people of the United States. Not for equal justice for all. And where were the Republican senators today? They did not speak up. Why didn't they speak up?

We should be doing everything in our power to support Epstein's victims and prevent the abuse they experienced from this happening to anyone else.

These survivors deserve their day in court, which is why I introduced Virginia's law to eliminate the statute of limitations that protects abusers like Epstein. Every single Republican ought to support Virginia's law. Instead, Senate Republicans are bending over backwards to hand DOJ over to Trump's personal lawyer, who masterminded Trump's corrupt MAGA slush fund, arranged Trump's sweetheart deal with the IRS, and undermined the investigation of Epstein.

The American people don't trust Todd Blanche, and neither should Senate Republicans.

These survivors know better than anyone else, anyone else, how dangerous it is to let someone like Blanche become Attorney General.

I thank them for sharing their stories and, as I said, for their courage.

###