Attorney General Todd Blanche's appearance on a Sunday morning news show sparked questions about whether he fully understands what the Democratic House and Senate will investigate in 2027.
CNN's Dana Bash asked Blanche about the threats the administration has made about using the Justice Department to go after Democrats who were just elected in a huge rebuke of President Donald Trump and the GOP.
Before the election, Democrats not up for reelection were already talking about the accountability piece of the 220th Congress, set to begin next year. Blanche characterized these as potentially illegal threats and called Democrats "extortionists." He said that he fully intends to investigate any Democrat threatening the administration.
Bash asked whether he intends to start indicting Democratic lawmakers.
“Well, it depends on what the crime is and what they’ve done," Blanche answered. He even accused Democrats of threatening to go after college students who might be interning for the administration or donors to Trump.
Will Saletan and Catherine Rampell for The Bulwark agreed Blanche is making things worse.
“So, the problem is he’s like giving them more material just by these public cable news interviews," said Rampell.
"It's really like a bodyguard. He's there to shut down any investigations that might make Donald Trump look bad, or his administration look bad," she continued. "I guess I understand going back to what we were talking about before why he might be so furious about the incoming Democratic Congress investigating stuff that's going on in this administration and talking about impeachment of various people. Because, like, I presume Todd Blanche might be on those lists of possible people to be impeached and people who are going to be heavily investigated."
The idea that Democrats are only investigating Trump supporters who donated money to Trump's campaign is Blanche attempting to reframe what is actually an investigation into donors who gave to Trump's ballroom and then got lucrative federal contracts.
The two agreed that Blanche is only strengthening the Democrats' argument that the administration should be investigated.
Blanche's reference to the college students goes back to a comment from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), in which she made it clear that lower-level staff should be cautious because they may not be on Trump's radar for pardons. So, if they aid in the administration committing crimes, they will be held accountable too.
Saletan and Rampell contend that Blanche is intentionally distorting the distinction between accountability and political retaliation. It's clear that the administration will try to paint any oversight or accountability with a broad brush, claiming that it's just as political and vengeful as Trump's indictments of his political enemies.
They see Blanche as "Trump’s closest bodyguard," rather than the top attorney for the United States.
“It feels to me like he’s again—he is literally Trump’s former personal lawyer—and is responding that way as opposed to a normal attorney general who would be like, ‘Let’s wait and find out what the facts are,'" Rampell explained.
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