Fresh from his swearing-in as United States Attorney General, Todd Blanche used his first major Sunday-show appearance to dismantle what he called a media-driven false narrative that President Donald Trump might pressure him to cross legal or ethical lines.
According to WND, Blanche, who previously served as President Trumps personal attorney, appeared on NBCs Meet the Press, where anchor Kristen Welker opened by pressing him on the lefts favorite talking point about supposed political interference at the Department of Justice. Welker asked pointedly, Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House? and Blanche immediately rejected the premise, responding, Theres a big difference between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case, and act independently of the White House. No, Im not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that.
Blanche then laid out a basic constitutional reality that many in the media and on the left prefer to ignore, namely that the executive branch is supposed to be led by an elected president, not by unelected bureaucrats. If I were to pledge I would be independent of the White House, what that means is that if President Trump says I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country, which is what he has said, what youre saying to me is I just say No sir, Im not going to do it, he explained, underscoring that responsiveness to the presidents lawful directives is not corruption but proper governance.
The attorney general emphasized that fidelity to the law, not hostility to the president, is the true measure of integrity at the Justice Department. Blanche continued: So I will act with integrity. Our prosecutors will act with integrity. We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor. And thats exactly what weve been doing and thats what every Department of Justice should do.
Welker tried again to revive the familiar progressive storyline of a rogue president leaning on his attorney general to weaponize justice, asking, Well, I guess big picture if the president asks you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it? Blanche would not indulge the hypothetical, answering instead with a direct defense of President Trumps character and leadership: The president will never ask me to do something unethical or illegal or illegal. He never has. He never will.
He went further, calling out the partisan origins of the accusation that the president is poised to abuse his authority. I swore to the Constitution of the United States like every Cabinet secretary before me has done and like every attorney general before me has done, and so this narrative thats mostly pushed by the left and pushed by the media, that the presidents gonna pull me aside and ask me to do something illegal is a completely a false narrative, not true, will not happen and hasnt happened, Blanche said, making clear that his loyalty is to the Constitution and the rule of law, not to media approval.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Blanche also pushed back against caricatures of President Trump as intolerant of dissent, describing instead a chief executive who actively seeks robust internal debate.
On that program, Blanche said President Trump actually loves disagreement, adding, He wants to get counsel from all of his leaders, that is just that: counsel. It doesnt mean youre just saying yes to him, a stark contrast to the lefts portrayal of a president demanding blind obedience.
Blanche stressed that his alignment with the president is rooted in shared principles, particularly on law and order and restoring constitutional norms after years of politicized prosecutions.
He and I share the exact same goals for this country. When it comes to the Department of Justice, its restoring the rule of law to this country combating crime, he said, signaling that under President Trumps second administration, the Justice Department intends to refocus on violent criminals and genuine threats to public safety rather than serving as an instrument of partisan warfare.
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