Acting U.S. attorney general’s specious claim: Trump’s demands to prosecute rivals are “communication to make people happy”

Todd Blanche, acting head of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), defended President Donald Trump’s past pressure on his former attorney general to indict Trump’s political opponents, calling it “a way of communicating that makes the people happy.”
On the 14th (local time), Blanche, who previously served as Donald Trump’s criminal defense attorney, appeared on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and argued, “(The president’s pressure) means there is a head of the executive branch who is making sure his Cabinet members are working hard and doing what they are supposed to do.”
Starting last year, President Trump openly pressed former attorney general Pam Bondi to bring charges against several of his rivals, including former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
However, investigations into these figures repeatedly ran into trouble in the courts as procedural problems and other issues came to light. This became one of the reasons Trump, dissatisfied with her performance, dismissed Bondi earlier this month.
Blanche also indicated that he intends to push ahead with investigations into other politicians seen as Trump’s adversaries, who have been accused of “inciting insurrection,” regardless of a federal grand jury’s decision not to indict them.
Democratic Senator Mark Edward Kelly of Arizona and five members of the House of Representatives had publicly urged U.S. military personnel and others to disobey “unlawful orders.” A federal grand jury rejected the DOJ’s request to indict them this February.
Regarding this, Blanche said, “The grand jury may have reached the wrong decision,” adding, “Some of the cases in which the grand jury declined to indict are difficult cases, and we are continuing to investigate them.” He went on to describe the cases that have been blocked by grand juries or courts as “examples that show we are working hard.”
Before joining the DOJ, Blanche worked as President Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, and he is being mentioned as a possible successor to former attorney general Pam Bondi. At a press conference on the 7th, he said it would be “a very great honor” if President Trump were to nominate him as attorney general.
In the interview that day, he also warned of controversy by declaring, “If I take office as attorney general, I will roll back the measures by which the previous Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. administration ‘weaponized’ the Justice Department against President Trump.”
whywani@fnnews.com Hong Chae-wan Reporter