WASHINGTON, D.C. — In Sunday interviews on CNN’s “State of the Union” and “Fox News Sunday,” Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the Justice Department would represent Trump administration officials facing congressional oversight. He also suggested the lawmakers conducting that oversight could face investigations of their own.
The Attorney General is supposed to be the people’s lawyer. Blanche spent Sunday morning offering his services to Trump’s inner circle and threatening the lawmakers charged with holding them accountable.
“Todd Blanche just told every official in this administration that the Justice Department is their personal defense firm,” said Brett Edkins, Not Above the Law co-chair. “One day after Donald Trump ordered the department to go after his critics in Congress, Blanche went on national television and promised to defend Stephen Miller and Pete Hegseth against oversight and then threatened lawmakers doing their constitutional duty. Blanche never stopped being Trump’s personal lawyer. He just moved his practice into the Justice Department. Americans voted for a government that answers to them. Congress must hold this administration accountable, and no threat from the Attorney General should stand in the way.”
Here’s what to know:
BLANCHE’S DOJ WILL DEFEND MILLER, HEGSETH, AND ANY TRUMP OFFICIAL CONGRESS INVESTIGATES.
Blanche told CNN’s Dana Bash that the Justice Department would represent administration officials, including White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in congressional oversight investigations. When pressed on whether he considered that his job, he answered: “Do I see it as my job? The Constitution sees it as my job.” He confirmed he’d represent Hegseth if the defense secretary faces impeachment.
While the Justice Department can defend officials facing legal action tied to their official duties, the department has rarely represented government officials in criminal cases. On “Fox News Sunday” that same morning, Blanche made the arrangement crystal clear: “If you work in this administration, you have a lawyer,” he said. “It’s me.”
BLANCHE THREATENS TO INVESTIGATE CONGRESS, BUT CANNOT NAME A CRIME.
On Saturday, President Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate congressional Democrats he called “extortionists” for allegedly “going around threatening a lot of people.”
Regarding incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman Robert Garcia’s panel, Blanche warned: “I would be very worried if I was a member of that committee.” When Bash reminded him that the Constitution grants Congress oversight powers and asked, “What you just described, is there a crime there?” Blanche replied: “Well, it depends on what’s said. So yes, there could be… when the threats become so vile and so dangerous.”
THE INCOMING OVERSIGHT CHAIRMAN: BLANCHE IS STILL PLAYING TRUMP’S PERSONAL LAWYER.
Rep. Garcia, who appeared on CNN immediately after Blanche, said: “I think first we should always remember that Todd Blanche was Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, and he continues, obviously, to play that role. It’s ridiculous that we have the attorney general telling the American public that somehow he’s going to defend administration officials when his job is to defend the Constitution and the Department of Justice – to be the people’s lawyer. He’s anything but that.”
The Not Above the Law coalition is co-chaired by Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen; Praveen Fernandes, Vice President of the Constitutional Accountability Center; Kelsey Herbert, Campaign Director at MoveOn; and Brett Edkins, Managing Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Stand Up America.
For questions about our work to hold Trump accountable or to request an interview with a Not Above the Law coalition leader, please email press@focalpointstrategygroup.com