Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that he is prepared to disagree with President Donald Trump on legal matters, pushing back against criticism that his previous role as Trump’s defense lawyer will compromise the Justice Department’s independence.
Blanche, who is entering his second week as the nation’s top law enforcement official, appeared on both “Fox News Sunday” and NBC’s “Meet the Press” to address concerns surrounding his appointment. His confirmation faced notable resistance in the Senate, where 49 lawmakers—including all Democrats and two Republicans—voted against him.
Speaking with Fox News host Shannon Bream, Blanche dismissed the idea that the White House directs day-to-day prosecutorial choices.
“There’s a misnomer about President Trump, which is that he wakes up in the morning, calls me up and says, ‘Todd, go prosecute this,’” Blanche said. “That’s absolutely not the case.”
Blanche stated that the president expects members of his Cabinet to offer candid legal assessments, even when those views conflict with the administration’s preferences.
“I think he would expect me to tell him no,” Blanche said when asked whether he could reject a course of action favored by the president.
During his appearance on “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked Blanche if he would pledge that the Justice Department would always operate independently of the White House. Blanche declined to make that specific commitment.
“No, I’m not going to pledge that,” Blanche said. “And no attorney general should ever pledge that.”
When Welker asked whether he would weigh Trump’s view if the president believed a specific case warranted pursuit or revival, Blanche confirmed he would.
“Yes, of course,” Blanche responded. “And I hope every attorney general in history would not answer that question differently.”
Blanche maintained that he and the prosecutors working under him will adhere strictly to legal and ethical standards, adding that he does not expect improper requests from the Oval Office.
“The president will never ask me to do something unethical or illegal. He never has. He never will,” Blanche told NBC.
The interviews come amid ongoing scrutiny from congressional critics over the boundary between White House policy goals and federal law enforcement.
Appearing on “Meet the Press” the same morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized the relationship, describing Blanche’s Justice Department as “a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump cartel.”
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