Todd Blanche, in 1st appearance as acting AG, shrugs off suggestion Trump will 'pressure' him to target opponents
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche used his first news conference Tuesday to shrug off any suggestion that he would use the Justice Department to more aggressively target perceived enemies of President Donald Trump, as he heaped praise on his ousted predecessor Pam Bondi.
"First of all, we have thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now, and it is true that some of them involve men women and entities that the president in the past has had issues with and that believe should be investigated," Blanche said. "That is his right, and indeed it is his duty to do that, meaning, to lead this country."
Blanche denied he views President Trump's public statements urging the prosecutions of his enemies as "pressure" on him in serving as the head of the DOJ. Trump, naming several of his perceived political foes in a September social media post, said, "JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!"
"I do not view this as pressure," Blanche said. "I do not view this as something that is going to keep me up at night, except to make sure that we are investigating every case that we that we have to the fullest extent of the law and using all the resources we can."
Trump announced Thursday that Bondi was being ousted as his attorney general in a post on his social media platform, saying she'll move to a role working in the private sector. Blanche said it remains a mystery why Bondi was ousted, despite widespread reporting that it was due to Trump's frustration with her lack of successful prosecutions against his political opponents and her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
"Nobody has any idea why the attorney general is no longer the attorney general and I'm the acting attorney general, except for President Trump," Blanche said.
Blanche, who previously served as Trump's defense attorney in the cases brought against him by former special counsel Jack Smith and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, repeatedly sparred with reporters at Tuesday's press event, accusing the media of ignoring years of so-called "weaponization" under the Biden administration.
"When I'm asked questions, or when I see reporting about shock and awe at this supposed weaponization of this Department of Justice, it means nothing to me, because it's completely false," Blanche said. "People say the president wants to go after his political enemies. No, the president has said time and time again that he wants justice."
With the news conference happening amid uncertainty over President Trump's Tuesday morning threat to destroy the "civilization" of Iran, ABC News pressed Blanche on whether the DOJ is providing advice to the White House about what kind of military strikes could constitute potential war crimes.
"The Department of Justice, as it always does, supports the Department of War, the White House, Department of State to the extent that's involved, and our intelligence communities, to the extent that that's something that's appropriate, and we provide counsel to them, and we have been doing that, as you would expect," said Blanche, who declined to engage on the topic of potential war crimes.
