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So What · Aug 17, 2026

😲 Todd Blanche’s Astonishing Answer on Whether Trump Controls the DOJ

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Chris Cillizza · So What

Attorney General Todd Blanche listens as President Donald Trump speaks at the David Mack Center for Training and Intelligence, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, in Garden City, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Newly-confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche did a sit-down interview with “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker on Sunday.

It didn’t go well — for America.

Here’s the key exchange:

WELKER: We appreciate you being here in person. As we just heard in your address to the Justice Department staff this week, you said you and DOJ will, quote, ‘uphold the law without fear or favor.’ You, of course, used to be President Trump's former personal defense attorney. Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House?

BLANCHE: Well, there's a big difference between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House. No, I'm not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that.

The president -- I mean, if I were to pledge, I will 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 you're saying to me is I should say, "No, sir, not going to do it." So, I will act with integrity.

Our prosecutors will act with integrity. We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor. And that's exactly what we've been doing, and that's what every Department of Justice should do.

WELKER: 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: The president will never ask me to do something unethical or illegal. He never has. He never will.

And no, I swore to the Constitution of the United States, like every cabinet secretary has done and like every attorney general before me has done. 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.

Um, WHAT?

Let’s take apart Blanche’s “argument” piece by piece.

Read the original on chriscillizza.substack.com

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