Sen. Thom Tillis on Thursday set a new condition for his vote to confirm Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to attorney general: He wants Blanche to meet with Epstein victims first.

During the second day of hearings for Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who will retire at the end of this term, said his support for Blanche could hinge upon Blanche’s willingness to meet with the victims. 

“I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing 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,’” Tillis said.

The newest potential roadblock for Blanche’s confirmation came during the outside witness day of testimony for Blanche, which included former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a victim of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and a pardon attorney fired by the Trump administration. The Senate Judiciary Committee testimony is aimed at drawing expertise from outside experts to, depending on the viewpoint, bolster or cut down a Cabinet member’s chances of advancing.

The current 11-10 breakdown of the panel could allow any one Republican to vote with Democrats and potentially sink the nomination. The earliest the panel could vote on Blanche’s nomination is likely July 30.

Dani Bensky, one of Epstein’s victims, testified that Blanche, who is currently serving as acting attorney general, caused more harm for her and other victims in his supervision of release of the Epstein files. The releases retraumatized her and others and she said the DOJ ignored investigative leads.

“Todd Blanche has been at the helm of the release of nude images of survivors, the outing of Jane Does and the exposure of more than 100 victims’ identifying information and documents describing horrific acts of abuse, including my own,” Bensky said.

Elizabeth Oyer, the former pardon attorney for the Justice Department, said she was fired after refusing to recommend restoring gun rights to Mel Gibson, who was convicted of domestic abuse. Oyer said that Blanche’s testimony about her firing was “flat out false.” She said Blanche sent U.S. marshals to her home when she sought to testify to Congress about her firing.

“I declined to rubber stamp a political favor for a friend of the president, and it cost me my job,” Oyer said.

Republicans on the panel did not engage with Oyer’s allegations, instead focusing on commutation recommendations Oyer made during her tenure in the Biden administration. 

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., showed a series of posters of victims of death row defendants whose death sentences President Joe Biden commuted on her recommendation.

“I’m amazed you have been called here today,” Hawley said.

Oyer was fired two months into Trump’s second term, and Oyer said that was only because she declined to recommend returning Gibson’s gun rights. Oyer said the Justice Department declined to dispute her claim about her firing in an administrative proceeding, and Blanche’s testimony Wednesday about a different reason “materialized out of thin air.”

Jennifer Bos, the mother of late Megan Bos, whose body was concealed by an undocumented immigrant, argued that Blanche has helped clamp down on crime from illegal border-crossers. Bos broke down crying several times when speaking about her daughter’s death and the search for her body.

“Do not wait until another mother is sitting where I am. Confirm Todd Blanche,” Bos said.

On Wednesday, both Tillis and the other public holdout, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, pressed Blanche on the status of a $1.8 billion compensation fund for “weaponization” of past Democratic administrations. Though Blanche has said the fund is “dead,” Trump has not agreed to alter the legal settlement that mandates its creation and the DOJ is currently fighting a case in court over the fund.

During the Wednesday hearing, Tillis pushed Blanche to work with him on legislation that would formally abolish the fund.

On Thursday, Oyer said that it was “contract law 101” that Trump or his children could sue to force the reinstatement of the fund.