Blanche says ‘of course’ he’ll consider Trump’s opinion on reviving prosecutions
Attorney General Todd Blanche has stated that he will consider President Donald Trump’s opinions when deciding whether to revive certain cases. During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Blanche affirmed that he takes the president’s views into account but emphasized that he will always stand up for what is right and does not blindly follow the president. Blanche also expressed that,unlike some narratives suggesting the president directs prosecutions daily,he has never received such direct instructions from Trump and would inform him if there were legal challenges. He praised career DOJ staff and pledged to improve the agency.The Trump administration has been aggressive in prosecuting certain crimes, such as vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial, though some cases, like the damage to the Reflecting pool, were dropped after evidence showed the damage was accidental. Despite this, Trump urged for these cases to be revived. Blanche highlighted his independence in decision-making and his commitment to integrity in the Justice Department.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said he will take President Donald Trump’s opinion into account on whether certain cases should be revived.
“Will I take the president of the United States’s view on something into consideration? Yes, of course,” Blanche told NBC News host Kristen Welker on Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
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“I hope every attorney general in history would not answer that question differently. Just let’s play that out,” he said. “The elected president of the United States says something to me, and I’m supposed to say to you, I would say ‘nope’? I mean, that’s not the way it works.”
The Trump administration has been aggressive about prosecuting certain crimes, including alleged vandalism of the newly renovated Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose jurisdiction lies in Washington, D.C., moved to dismiss federal charges against former Olympian David Hearn after evidence showed damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by the botched renovation rather than intentional vandalism. Trump later called on Pirro to revive the case while criticizing her for dropping the charges.
Pirro has not reversed her decision to drop the case, but her office is prosecuting another case of alleged vandalism on the National Mall.
While he has been supportive of Pirro’s decision, Blanche said he “certainly” listens to Trump when he opines on social media or speaks to the American people about ways to make the United States safer.
During the interview, Welker said she asked the attorney general if he would take Trump’s opinion into consideration because former Attorney General Bill Barr pushed back against the president during his first term over claims of election fraud in 2020.
“If you were faced with a similar situation, something that you did not think actually met the standard, the legal standard in your mind, would you stand up to the president?” Welker asked.
In response, Blanche said he “will always stand up for what’s right” while dismissing the notion that he is at the president’s beck and call.
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“The president does not expect any of his leaders, including me, to just say yes to him, no matter what he says,” Blanche said. “And so of course, there’s vigorous back and forth with every Cabinet member and the president of the United States, which is exactly what President Trump expects.”
“There is this extraordinarily false narrative that the president wakes up in the morning and calls me and says, ‘Todd, go prosecute X or Y.’ He does not do that. He has never done that. He will never do that,” he continued. “And so if there’s something that he wants to do, but he needs to know that there’s a challenge or that we can’t do it, of course, I will tell him.”
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