US Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday declined to assure that the federal justice department he leads would always act independently of the White House and President Donald Trump. In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Blanche told host Kristen Welker, "No, I'm not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that."
Blanche also claimed that Trump would never ask him to cross an ethical or legal line, following the president's dismissal of his predecessor, Pam Bondi, who had grown frustrated over insufficient action from the justice department against Trump's political opponents. "The president will never ask me to do something unethical or legal or illegal," Blanche said. "He never has. He never will. And no, I have – I swore to the constitution of the United States, like every cabinet secretary has done, and like every attorney general before me has done."
He added, "So, this narrative that's mostly pushed by the left and pushed by the media that the president's going to pull me aside and ask me to do something illegal is completely a false narrative, not true, will not happen and hasn't happened."
Criticism Over Independence Stance
In response to Blanche's refusal to pledge independence, Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, wrote on social media that his position was "an appalling departure" from the justice department's mission, which was reformed after the Watergate scandal that led to Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974. McQuade wrote, "The justice department, as we once knew it, is no more. Blanche has turned it into Trump's private law firm. What a complete disgrace."
Blanche's comments came days after he was narrowly confirmed by the US Senate in a 50-49 vote to succeed Bondi, with all Democrats voting against him. He previously served as Trump's criminal defense lawyer when a New York state jury convicted Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Background and Controversies
In April, Blanche said he would tell Trump, "I love you, sir," if the president decided to fire him and nominate someone else to replace Bondi. In December, Blanche defended moving Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted child sexual trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate, to a minimum-security prison. He has also faced scrutiny over his handling of the so-called Epstein files and his treatment of victims of Epstein's sex-trafficking network.
During Sunday's interview, Blanche also defended Trump's pardoning of 1,500 supporters convicted of attacking the US Capitol in early 2021. "I'm not opining or in any way saying what President Trump did was wrong," Blanche said, noting the pardons included more than 170 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. "That is the president's right."
Legal and Political Implications
Blanche declined to say whether any pardoned attackers might still receive settlements from the federal government, though he claimed a $1.8bn "anti-weaponization" fund for allies Trump considered unfairly prosecuted was dead. "Well, anybody can file a claim against the federal government, not just anybody associated with [the Capitol attack]," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and say on a news program whether a litigation that may or may not happen will result in money. I can't do that."
He affirmed the justice department would not drop "election integrity" efforts despite more than 20 consecutive court defeats linked to attempts to force states to turn over voter rolls ahead of the November midterm elections, where Trump's Republican party is projected to lose seats in Congress and is favored to lose the House majority. Blanche's refusal to pledge independence raises concerns about the DOJ's autonomy under the Trump administration, with critics arguing that the department has become politicized, while supporters maintain that the president has the right to direct executive branch actions.
