AG Blanche Refuses to Pledge DOJ Independence From Trump

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Published 3 days ago

AG Blanche Refuses to Pledge DOJ Independence From Trump

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Above: U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche in Garden City, New York, on Aug. 14. Image credit: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Blanche openly admitted he won't pledge DOJ independence and that Trump's personal feelings will factor into prosecutions — a radical break from post-Watergate norms designed to keep federal law enforcement out of presidential hands. Turning the Justice Department into an Oval Office policy desk puts every career prosecutor under political pressure. This is a nakedly weaponized DOJ that answers to one man, not the Constitution.

AlterNet

Pramila Jayapal on X

Todd Blanche is absolutely right — the Attorney General is a cabinet officer accountable to Article II executive power, not some fourth branch of government the Founders never created. Justice Scalia made this plain in Morrison v. Olson:; prosecuting crimes is a quintessentially executive function under the president's full control. Demanding DOJ "independence" from the executive is constitutionally illiterate, plain as the text itself.

Katie Zacharia on X

Ron DeSantis on X

Metaculus Prediction

There is a 75% chance that senior DOJ leaders will override normal procedures to protect the President, his family, or his allies from a legal case in 2027-28, according to the Metaculus prediction community.