US attorney general Todd Blanche on Sunday declined to assure that the federal justice department he helms would always act independently of the White House and Donald Trump, effectively confirming what everyone already suspected.
"No, I'm not going to pledge that," he said when asked by NBC's Meet the Press host Kristen Welker. "And no attorney general should ever pledge that." Because why would the top law enforcement officer in the land want to appear impartial? That's just a silly, outdated notion.
Blanche also claimed Trump would never ask him to do something that crosses an ethical or legal line - after the president dismissed his predecessor, Pam Bondi, having become frustrated over insufficient action from the justice department against Trump's political foes. Because nothing says "ethical independence" like firing the AG for not being vengeful enough.
"The president will never ask me to do something unethical or legal or illegal," Blanche told Welker, in a statement that manages to be both reassuring and deeply confusing. "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: "And 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." But the refusal to pledge independence might have something to do with that narrative, but who are we to point out the obvious?
In response to his demurring on the questions of always acting independently of the White House, Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, wrote on social media that Blanche's stated position was "an appalling departure" from the justice department's mission after the Watergate scandal that prompted Richard Nixon to resign from the presidency in 1974.
The justice department, "as we once knew it, is no more," McQuade wrote. "Blanche has turned it into Trump's private law firm. What a complete disgrace." Strong words, but when the AG says he won't pledge independence, you kind of have to hand it to the professor for calling it like she sees it.
Blanche's comments to Welker on Sunday came days after he was only 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 between his two presidencies of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
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. Because nothing says "impartial attorney general" like declaring your undying love for your boss.
Blanche, meanwhile, in December defended moving Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted child sexual trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate, to a minimum-security prison. And Blanche has also continued facing scrutiny over his handling of the so-called Epstein files and his treatment of those victimized by the sex-trafficking network built by Epstein.
While speaking with Welker on Sunday, Blanche also defended Trump's pardoning of 1,500 supporters who were convicted of attacking the US Capitol toward the end of his first presidency in early 2021.
"I'm not opining or in any way saying what President Trump did was wrong," Blanche said when asked about the pardons, which included more than 170 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. "That is the president's right." Because pardoning people who assaulted police officers is just a presidential perk, like using the nuclear football as a paperweight.
Blanche declined to say whether any of the pardoned attackers might still receive settlements from the federal government - though the attorney general also claimed a $1.8bn "anti-weaponization" fund for allies whom Trump considered to be unfairly prosecuted was dead.
"Well, anybody can file a claim against the federal government, not just anybody associated with [the Capitol attack]," Blanche 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." So there's a chance, folks. A chance.
He also affirmed the justice department would not drop "election integrity" efforts despite more than 20 consecutive court defeats connected to efforts to try to force states to turn over voter rolls ahead of the midterm elections in November, when the president's Republican party is projected to lose seats in Congress and favored to lose the majority in the US House. Because if at first you don't succeed, keep losing in court with a straight face.