A survivor of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Jess Michaels, said on Saturday, July 19th, 2026, that she and other survivors were "gaslit" during a meeting last week with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Michaels told MS NOW’s Alex Witt that Blanche repeatedly denied that anything in the Justice Department’s files related to Epstein could lead to further investigations.

"It felt like we were hitting a brick wall when we were trying to talk with him about — ‘But what about this?’ ‘But why can’t you look at that?'" Michaels said. "You know, we were giving him information that he could have talked with us about, but we were gaslit, we were skipped over."

Michaels also said Blanche took the meeting "because he wants this promotion" to the permanent post of attorney general. She described Blanche's attempt at empathy and compassion as "patronizing and condescending," adding that she did not feel he was acting as a public servant addressing crime victims who had experienced horrific abuse.

Blanche initially told lawmakers that he could not legally meet with Epstein survivors, and Michaels said the meeting was initially "passed off … with his assistant" before Blanche finally agreed to meet with the survivors last Thursday, July 16th, 2026.

Several Epstein survivors also alleged that the Justice Department did not properly redact its digital "Epstein library" on its website, failing to adequately protect victim privacy.

Michaels emphasized that the harm caused was explained to Blanche multiple times during the meeting but was not acknowledged, calling his behavior "patronizing."

Sources