Attorney general Todd Blanche told NBC's Kristen Welker he would not pledge that the Justice Department would always act independently of Trump and the White House, arguing 'no attorney general should ever pledge that.' Blanche, Trump's former personal criminal defense lawyer, insisted Trump would never ask him to do anything illegal, calling contrary suggestions a false narrative pushed by the media and the left. He was confirmed by the Senate just days earlier in a narrow 50-49 party-line vote, succeeding Pam Bondi after Trump grew frustrated with insufficient DOJ action against his political opponents.
Law professor Barb McQuade called Blanche's position 'an appalling departure' from the department's post-Watergate independence, saying he's turned it into 'Trump's private law firm.' Blanche also defended Trump's pardons of roughly 1,500 January 6 defendants, including more than 170 who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers, declining to say whether pardoned attackers might still receive federal settlements, though he claimed a $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund was dead.
Blanche additionally affirmed the department would continue 'election integrity' efforts despite more than 20 consecutive court losses in attempts to force states to hand over voter rolls ahead of November's midterms, in which Trump's party is projected to lose House seats.
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