South Carolina Senate effectively kills proposed congressional map backed by Trump

(WASHINGTON) — A key GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee whose vote is needed to secure acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation as the next attorney general said Thursday that he will require Blanche to sit down with victims of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before he can vote for him. 

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announced the new condition during a hearing Thursday where one of the witnesses was Epstein victim Dani Bensky.

Facing a potentially rocky confirmation, Blanche made a brief attempt to meet with Epstein survivors on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon. 

He and his team arrived at a Senate Judiciary Committee office where they sat for about half an hour, but no one joined them.

“I rearranged my schedule to try to meet with them,” Blanche told ABC News after leaving the office. “I’ve been here waiting. It didn’t work out, so we’re going to see if there’s a way we can meet either later today or sometime soon.”

“There’s nothing newsworthy about this fact because the Department of Justice will always meet with victims or their representatives, and if those victims or their representatives have evidence that anybody committed a crime, whether it has to do with Jeffrey Epstein, anybody else that was associated with Jeffrey Epstein, or anybody else, we will of course move forward and investigate and prosecute,” Blanche said.

Bensky testified in Thursday’s hearing that Blanche has never responded to repeated attempts to reach him to sit down and recount her story. 

“Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with [Epstein victims] and counsel — I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present,” Tillis said. “I expect that meeting to occur before I vote to vote out of this committee and I’m trying to get to yes. But this is a very important part of getting to yes.”

“There should not be any reason why, based on what Mr. Blanche said yesterday, if he said that he would do it today, then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks,” Tillis added.

Blanche told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he would be happy to meet with victims but initially said he couldn’t meet with them personally if they were represented by legal counsel, before correcting himself later in the hearing. 

“I never said I can’t meet with them. I said if they were represented, I had to meet through counsel,” Blanche said. “But of course, I can meet with them. I’m the acting attorney general of the United States, so yes, I can.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Under pressure from two Republican senators blocking his confirmation as the next attorney general, Todd Blanche said he is formally rescinding his establishment of President Donald Trump’s so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Blanche posted two separate orders on X Sunday night, one rescinding the nearly $1.8 billion fund, as well as another clarifying language regarding the scope of an arrangement that had shielded Trump from facing further IRS audits of his past tax returns.

As part of Trump’s settlement with the IRS in his $10 billion lawsuit against the agency, the DOJ issued an addendum, signed by Blanche in his role as acting attorney general, that would bar the government from continuing any existing audits of tax returns filed by Trump, his family and their companies.

Cornyn said Thursday that he doesn’t need the DOJ to modify the language of the settlement, but that he wants written documentation that the settlement won’t provide tax audit immunity that extends to affiliated organizations for Trump and his family that weren’t part of the lawsuit.

Blanche’s post on Sunday is a signal that he had secured approval from Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who had been key holdouts on his nomination. The GOP senators had been working behind closed doors and in private talks with Blanche and his team to craft statements they’d find acceptable to alter the language of the controversial settlement. 

“Sen. Cornyn has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice, which will be issuing a formal order permanently terminating the anti-weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the President, and the IRS,” Cornyn spokesperson Natalie Yezbick said in a statement late on Sunday.

Some legal experts and even MAGA supporters of the fund, however, have already begun questioning whether it precludes DOJ from giving mass payouts to pro-Trump rioters or the clarification that Cornyn had initially sought to the IRS immunity clause.

The order dealing with IRS immunity notably states that DOJ would interpret the order to mean that it only applies to plaintiffs in Trump and his son’s initial $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — but that interpretation doesn’t appear to be similarly binding on Trump’s personal lawyers or his family.

And some previous vocal supporters of the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” are already cheering on the language of the order rescinding it — noting that there’s nothing specifically barring DOJ from payouts to pro-Trump supporters who may have attacked police during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Blanche’s orders on Sunday come after Trump floated the possibility of temporarily withdrawing Blanche’s nomination to permanently lead the Department of Justice because of the resistance from the two outgoing Republican senators.

Both senators’ terms will end in January. Cornyn lost a primary battle in Texas earlier this year after Trump endorsed his opponent, Ken Paxton. Tillis announced last year he would not seek reelection after Trump threatened to field primary challengers.

Withdrawing Blanche’s nomination is a decision that would have no consequence in terms of Blanche leading the DOJ.

Blanche can continue to serve as acting attorney general. Acting department officials can serve in the role for 210 days, according to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act — however, that resets if a nomination is withdrawn.

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(WASHINGTON) — A federal appeals court in Louisiana could decide whether patients in the U.S. can continue to access the abortion drug mifepristone by mail and at pharmacies.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans began hearing oral arguments on Wednesday as Louisiana attempts to roll back a Biden-era policy around the way mifepristone is dispensed.

In January 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it was permanently lifting its restriction that mifepristone had to be dispensed in person, allowing certified retail and mail-order pharmacies to dispense the medication as well.

Louisiana, however, has argued that government regulators acted arbitrarily without proper consideration of health risks. The state has also argued the rule change violated the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned Roe v. Wade by allowing abortion pills to be administered by telehealth and by mail in states with abortion bans, including Louisiana.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state in May, barring dispensation of mifepristone by telehealth providers and by pharmacies or mail, but the Supreme Court preserved access to the pill, keeping the lower court’s order on hold.

The Center for Reproductive Rights said in a press release the case will likely go back to the Supreme Court for a final ruling until it’s “decided on the merits.”

Abortion rights groups have argued that reinstating an in-person requirement would create a barrier for pregnant patients, many of whom live far from a clinic.

“This case isn’t just about Louisiana — it could make it much harder to get abortion pills in every state, from New York to California,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “Abortion pills and telehealth have been a game-changer for women since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and that is exactly why the anti-abortion movement is going after them.”

She went on, “This is not simply about convenience — for many people, telehealth could be the difference between getting an abortion and not. Whether a doctor sends it to you via mail or hands it to you in their office, mifepristone is safe and effective. There is no scientific reason to restrict it.”

The court date comes two years after the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a similar legal challenge to mifepristone, concluding that the doctors and anti-abortion groups who sued over the drug did not have standing.

Mifepristone is a drug typically used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, to induce an abortion or to help manage an early miscarriage.

The medication works by blocking progesterone, a hormone that the body needs to continue a pregnancy.

This causes the uterine lining to stop thickening and to break down, detaching the embryo. The second drug, misoprostol, taken 24 to 48 hours later, causes the uterus to contract and dilates the cervix, which will expel the embryo.

The FDA authorized mifepristone for medication abortion in September 2000 for up to seven weeks’ gestation, which was then extended to 10 weeks’ gestation in 2016.

However, the World Health Organization says the two drug-regimen can be taken up until the 12-week mark of pregnancy.

Medication abortion now accounts for more than 60% of all abortions in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute.

In states with total bans, about 91,000 abortions were provided last year via telehealth, the Guttmacher Institute said.

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

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