This Sunday, following the ridiculous effort by Margaret Brennan to defend Anthony Fauci and attack the administration over the change in the vaccine schedule, the Trump team have embargoed CBS from administration participation. No officials gave CBS any time at all.
Dept of Justice Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to debate mini-me Kirsten Welker, as she clutches Brennan’s pearls and asks questions about AG Blanche having the audacity to support President Trump and the domestic Law & Order agenda. [Video and Transcript Below]
[Transcript] KRISTEN WELKER: And joining me now is attorney general Todd Blanche. Mr. Attorney General, welcome back to Meet The Press.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: Thank you, good morning.
KRISTEN WELKER: Good morning. Thank you for being here.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: Of course.
KRISTEN WELKER: We appreciate you being here in person. As we just heard in your address to the Justice Department staff this week, you said you and the DOJ will, quote, “uphold the law without fear or favor.” You of course used to be President Trump’s former personal defense attorney. Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: Well, there’s a big difference between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House. No, I’m not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that. The President, I mean, if I were to pledge I will be independent of the White House, what that means is that if President Trump says, “I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country,” which is what he has said, what you’re saying to me is I should say, “No, sir, I’m not going to do it.” So I will act with integrity. Our prosecutors will act with integrity. We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. And that’s what every Department of Justice should do.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, I guess, big picture: If the president asks you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
The president will never ask me to do something unethical or legal — or illegal. He never has. He never will. And no, I swore to the constitution of the United States like every cabinet secretary has done and like every attorney general before me has done. And so this, this narrative that’s mostly pushed by the left and pushed by the media that the president’s going to pull me aside and ask me to do something illegal is completely a false narrative, not true, will not happen, and hasn’t happened.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. Let’s delve into how you do see your tenure. You appeared with President Trump at the Nassau County Police Academy on Friday. You made some comments that did get a lot of attention. I want to play it and get your reaction on the other side. Take a look.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
My administration and my Department of Justice, if anybody touches a federal law enforcement officer in any way inappropriate, we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
KRISTEN WELKER:
And yet, Mr. Attorney General, on President Trump’s first day in office, as you know, he pardoned everyone who attacked the Capitol on January 6th, including 172 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. How is that consistent with your pledge to always protect law enforcement?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
There’s nothing inconsistent about that. The president’s pardon powers, any president’s pardon powers are not limited. So when I say and when this Department of Justice says and when the FBI says, like we’re saying, and every U.S. attorney is saying that if you assault law enforcement, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law, that is absolutely what President Trump expects, absolutely what I expect of our prosecutors. And that’s completely separate from any president’s ability to pardon.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But he did the opposite of that effectively. I mean, on January 6th police officers were beaten with baseball bats and flagpoles. Do you believe it was wrong to pardon the people who assaulted police officers on January 6th given that you have vowed to protect law enforcement?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Every attorney general vows to protect law enforcement including me. And so I’m not opining or in any way saying what President Trump did is wrong. Absolutely not. By the way, president–
KRISTEN WELKER:
Isn’t it inconsistent with what you said though?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Absolutely not. There’s a difference–
KRISTEN WELKER:
Is it inconsistent with your pledge?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
No. There’s a difference, Kristen. We will prosecute anybody. If later a president chooses to pardon that individual, that is the president’s right under our constitution. Do not forget that a few days before President Trump pardoned the individuals associated and who had plead guilty to the conduct on January 6th, President Biden pardoned hundreds and hundreds of criminals, many of whom were quite violent. So that’s his right to do that just like it’s President Trump’s right to do that.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But what message does it send to police officers that people who assaulted them were pardoned?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
The message to police officers is consistent and the same every single day which is that we will protect you. And by the way, that’s a little bit interesting coming from a place where we see violent protests breaking out all over the country, in New Jersey, in Minneapolis, in Seattle and California. And instead of there being a full-throated defense by leadership on the Democrat side, on the Republican side, what you have is it’s as if we’re doing something wrong by saying we will protect law enforcement and we will prosecute those who assault law enforcement. We’re not.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Let’s on this issue of January 6th, your confirmation was actually held up over the so-called anti-weaponization fund. I just want to remind folks what that means. That would effectively pay people who felt they were in some ways wronged by the federal government and could have included people who attacked the Capitol on January 6th. You signed a document. You testified under oath that the fund is dead. But President Trump has said he wishes it weren’t. If the president asks you to revive the fund, will you tell him no?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Well, the president has said it’s dead as well. So you can, and as the president has said that he very strongly believes that those that had this Department of Justice weaponized against them should be compensated, he’s going to continue to say that.
KRISTEN WELKER:
He said it’s up to you. He was just asked about it. He said effectively it’s up to you what to do about this.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
And I’ve said repeatedly it’s dead. And he has also said it’s dead. He said it in a cabinet meeting with the press there. And so I think it might be enjoyable for the media to continually ask me about whether the fund is really dead. And there is no fund. No money went from the treasury to any account. There were no commissioners established. And so there is no fund. There will be no fund. I’ve said it repeatedly. And the different angles coming almost every time I speak with the media, someone says, “Well, wait is it really dead?” And I say, “Yes, it is.” And then the next interview I give, somebody will say to me, “Is it really dead?” And I promise you I will say, “Yes, it is dead.”
KRISTEN WELKER:
So you’re saying you rule out ever reviving it. But just to be very clear, can you guarantee that under your Department of Justice anyone who attacked the Capitol on January 6th will not receive one dime of taxpayer money if they file a claim against the federal government?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Well, anybody can file a claim against the federal government, not just anybody associated with January 6th. I’m not going to sit here and say on a news program whether a litigation that may or may not happen will result in money. I can’t do that. So what I will say is that there’s a process in place for decades where if somebody that believes they’ve been wronged or a tort has been committed against them by the federal government can seek redress. And, you know, beyond that, I’m not going to comment about hypotheticals and what will happen in any of those cases.
KRISTEN WELKER:
So potentially, they could get paid under another stream of government funding, but not the anti-weaponization fund–
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Well, I don’t know. When you say, “They could get paid,” what is their claim? Is it somebody who’s plead guilty–
KRISTEN WELKER:
The Justice Department’s judgment fund.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
No, no, no. So, right. But when you say, “They could get paid,” anybody who sues the federal government could get paid. It depends on the facts. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on what it’s alleged the government did. And so I don’t know the circumstances of any hypothetical case. And I’m not going to comment on a hypothetical case today. But there is a process in place where if you believe that you’ve had a tort committed against you by the government, whether it’s slipping on ice outside of a federal post office or a law enforcement officer assaulting you, you are allowed to seek compensation.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay, let’s talk about a case that was recently brought before the Justice Department. The DOJ dropped charges against the Olympic canoeist that it accused of vandalizing the reflecting pool on the National Mall saying the damage was caused by, quote, “botched installation and not vandalism.” President Trump though said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro was wrong and that she should revisit the case. Do you support Jeanine Pirro dropping the case? Or do you support President Trump’s calls to revive the case?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
So we, yes, I absolutely support U.S. Attorney Pirro as does President Trump. Now, that’s different than whether the president is extraordinarily frustrated at what happened in that case. And I don’t in any way fault him for that. And by the way, the filings didn’t say that all of the damage was done by faulty construction, okay? So that’s where the media is getting some of the reporting wrong.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, it says–
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
There’s–
KRISTEN WELKER:
–the damage was done as a result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
There was potential vandalism. And we know that there was vandalism because there’s witnesses. That’s also in the brief that you’re citing that there’s witnesses that talked about the fact that there was vandalism. And so–
KRISTEN WELKER:
What do you mean by potential vandalism? Who did it?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Well, there’s a witness that said, “I observed the defendant vandalizing the reflecting pool.” Now, that’s different than whether ultimately we have the proof. And you saw what U.S. Attorney Pirro said about that in her filings. And I’ve said this before. We’re talking about a single case, okay? We’re talking about one case. We had another case of vandalism against a memorial earlier this week. This is horrible what’s happening in our nation’s capital with some of these really, really sick people vandalizing our national monuments. And U.S. Attorney Pirro is doing a phenomenal job enforcing that, going after anybody who’s doing it. And I think judging her on a single case because of the evidence that we had is not fair.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Should the president have a voice in individual prosecution decisions at all?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Every American has a voice in prosecutions. I mean, we hear from Americans all the time. As a matter of fact, many of our investigations start with an American citizen coming forward and saying they saw something. And so whether President Trump should have a, quote, “voice,” it depends.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Would you take–
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
But yes.
KRISTEN WELKER:
–his opinions into consideration when he says, “I think this case should be revived”? Will you take that into consideration?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
So hold on. Will I take the president of the United States’s view on something into consideration? Yes, of course. And I hope every attorney general in history would not answer that question differently. Just let’s play that out. The president of the United States, 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. Now the president is extraordinarily — every day he wakes up with one mission which is making this country better and, as it relates to me, making this country safer. So if he has a view on that, he talks about it on social media. He talks about it when he speaks to the American people. That’s certainly something that I listen to.
KRISTEN WELKER:
I’m asking in part because we did this clash play out in his first term. Bill Barr, the attorney general during President Trump’s first term, did push back against President Trump. In 2020, as you recall, he told him his election claims were detached from reality. 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?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
I mean, so I will always stand up for what’s right. And I do not, the president does not expect any of his leaders, including me, to just say yes to him no matter what he says. And so of course, there’s vigorous back and forth with every cabinet member of the president of the United States, which is exactly what President Trump expects. And there again, 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. And so if there’s something that he wants to do, that he needs to know that there’s a challenge or that we can’t do it, of course, I will tell him. It happens all the time with all of his leaders. And that’s what he expects.
KRISTEN WELKER:
One of the issues that he really cares about, the midterms. And there’s been a lot of focus on the midterms as it relates to the Justice Department, which has lost 22 cases trying to force states to turn over their voter rolls. State officials have pushed back against those moves. They say states dictate how elections are run, not the federal government. Is it time for the DOJ to drop this fight? And will you do it?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Well, just, I mean, we’re relying on a statute passed by Congress that allows us in the right circumstances to review and get those voter rolls. And so yes, no, no, we’re not going to stop doing what I think every American should expect us to do, which is make sure that we have elections that are fair. And as that relates to the Department of Justice, that means making sure that there are no constitutional, legal violations even at the state level. So yes, President Trump, this administration knows and of course understands that states administer elections. And that will always be the case. But it doesn’t mean the federal government should play no role. And so the tension there is of course whether we should be playing the role that we’re playing. And that’s really what we’re litigating.
KRISTEN WELKER:
How far are you willing to take this fight? Because you’ve been ruled against now 22 times. Are you going to take this all the way to the Supreme Court, you anticipate?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
We’ll see. We’ll see what happens. We’re trying to work it out with states –
KRISTEN WELKER:
It’s a possibility?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Of course. Yes, absolutely it’s a possibility. Election integrity is something that President Trump ran on. And the American people elected him. It’s something that every American should care about. And so the idea that the Department of Justice is trying to investigate issues around elections to make sure they’re fair and make sure they’re conducted the right way is not something that we should be running away from. That’s something we should be running right towards.
KRISTEN WELKER:
I want to finally shift gears here a little bit and ask you about an issue that is, full disclosure, close to us here at NBC, the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s beloved mom, Nancy. The FBI told the Wall Street Journal, quote, “The state is the lead in this investigation, has always been the lead.” Mr. Attorney General, she has been missing for more than six months now. Is it time for the FBI to take the lead in this investigation?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
It’s a horrible situation. And I share the grief and the frustration that you and your colleagues have and that the whole country has in this situation. I mean, I think whether the FBI takes the lead, we are there to support and give. And President Trump pledged it, Director Patel pledged it. The resources, anything that that investigation needs. We are working as hard as we can with the state and local law enforcement in every area. And that means not only providing assistance with manpower, but any sort of forensic assistance. And so we’re going to continue to do that. Whether we come in with sharp elbows and take it over, that’s not necessarily the right thing to do for her or for anybody. But making sure it’s done right and making sure that this investigation is being conducted the way that it should be is something we’re doing.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Is there an update? Are you any closer to solving this–
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
I don’t have any update–
KRISTEN WELKER:
–and finding Nancy Guthrie?
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
I don’t. And I’m sorry to say that because I wish I had an update. And I know that this type of case is heartbreaking especially when it plays out nationally like this one has. And all I can say is that Director Patel and his leadership and the leadership out in that area of the country, it will remain a priority as it should, with resources and with energy and with focus. And we hope that we get something soon.
KRISTEN WELKER:
All right. Mr. Attorney General, thank you so very much for being here–
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:
Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it–
[END TRANSCRIPT]
The photo at the end of the article is accurate. Add in Satan himself and it would be perfect.
Way to go AG Blanche!!!
Excellent ✝️🇺🇸🦅💥
Yes, it has been a fair statement for quite some time now to say without hesitation that the IC is who are running and controlling the government. One has to be either woefully or willfully ignorant of the naked reality that any duly elected has no real say in public affairs. Voting, to the extent that it ever was fair, especially at the national and state-levels, is an absurd joke.
The Cheka and NKVD would be truly envious of the modern IC’s methodologies in shaping and controlling society.
Anything related to freedom and liberty that is to have any real value at this point must be accomplished at the local level.
She really is sub-basement. All that time and availability spent trying to die on the wrong hills.
She may be down in a sub-basement right now, but at the rate she is going she may find herself even further down, like maybe around the 8th Circle of Hell or thereabouts.
Not much different that the Japanese soldier in the cave 2 years after Japan surrenders….but still fanatical to fight to the death 🙂
I had but lately learned of this interview and repaired to the site to inquire whether it might be brought to light. Lo and behold, there it stood already in complete form, transcript and pertinent particulars included. A most gratifying discovery: I came prepared to petition for the recovery of a missing record, only to find the evidence already laid before the public.
Stick around, Chic. You are going to learn a lot more!!
Praise GOD!!!! Fight! Fight! Fight!
She never asks a Democrat any of these questions. These are not interviews These are strictly gotcha gotcha debates. I tried watching but after three minutes had to quit It’s sickening. It’s OK for Black Lives Matter to hit cops and beat them up and shoot them and kill them set him on fire That’s OK. What an absolute joke She’s about as intelligent as a rock. Todd handled her pretty good. I hate to see the people like Todd go on these shows with people like her Margaret Brennan and these other idiots But I guess that’s the only way you get to some of these idiots that watch them.
She never asked Merrick Garland about the FBI raid on Mar-a-lago, complete with agents toting fully automatic weapons and the authority to use them at will.
It has been reported it was all ordered by then president Biden. Why didn’t she seek to find THAT out? Yeah, I think we KNOW why that didn’t happen.
KRISTEN WELKER
What a waste of oxygen
The Justice Department is not SUPPOSED to act independently of the White House. It is not some separate branch of government, it is part of the executive branch and it has legal powers only to the extent it follows the presidents orders.
If the various “alphabet agencies” of the government are “independent” of the people we elect to run the government, then we are living in a police state. This notion that various government bureaucrats should be “independent” of the President and Congress, which in practice means independent of the American people in general, needs to have a stake driven through its evil heart.
They shouldn’t talk to any of these people anymore, not just CBS. These are not interviews, they are just grandstanding, virtue-signaling attacks. And the whole “…on January 6th police officers were beaten with baseball bats and flagpoles” lie is disqualifying all by itself. There is no point in continuing to talk to these liars.
J/6 political prisoners deserve to be compensated.
Welker always looks like she just escaped an atomic blast.
Her questions originate from a biased viewpoint so what she believes is a truth which she is questioning, isn’t true at all. AG Blanche has to correct her entire premises to even start to answer the questions.
She is the prime example of all those who increasingly do what they accuse other people of. Hers is always fear-mongering based on projections, ignorance and deliberate framing of questions.
Does anyone here remember that it was Savannah Guthrie who “felt the raised seal” on Obama’s birth certificate? Remember when they did the same thing with the press that Bondi tried to do with “influencers” by giving them Epstein binders? Has the propaganda campaign just changed hands?
She needs to be Deported !
Welker wants to be “clear”…multiple times.
Then she wants to be “really clear”…because she wasn’t clear the first times.
Dear gosh.
This Women whore’s herself every Sunday morning for the Democratic Party. It’s pathetic.
That is a great description of this adversarial antagonist.
What leaves me wondering is, how do you go home and face family and friends after theatrics like this every weekend?
Time to add NBC to the “Nah, we have better things to do” list along side SeeBS
They pushed for the Ellison takeover of CBS. And have gotten exactly nothing in exchange. CBS remains the most left-wing of the big three broadcasters.
The point of the CBS takeover was not to make CBS less leftwing, but to make it more supportive of Israel. Trump should read The Art Of The Deal, because he and we got nothing out of this deal.
Seriously? Does everything have to revolve around Israel. Geeez
OMG! How long must we wait for the Big Tent Liberalism media and their sycophants to dry up and die? It would be fantastic if only TRUTH were allowed to be shared with the public.
Not my truth, or your truth, just the plain unvarnished facts so that I can make up my own mind! These people are sick.
If only the Enemedia would have grilled the Meat Puppet’s henchmen so thoroughly.
“Jan 6 people beat the police with baseball bats”. Huh? I remember un-armed Air Force Vet Ashli Babbitt was murdered by police but I don’t remember seeing anyone beat police with bats.
Anecdotally, the press, as a group, seem to have substandard IQ’s and granted that what passes for civics education these days is laughable. Therefore, I can understand the host’s confusion and delusional beliefs. But, as I recall from high school, the POTUS is the chief law enforcement officer in the land. To assert that he has no role in the Justice Department’s agenda is absolutely ridiculous.
BTW – Did she ever ask Merrick Garland why he was prosecuting people who were merely praying outside of abortion mills? Did she ask him why grandma’s and grandpa’s were being prosecuted, just because their phones pinged nearby cell towers on January 06? More importantly, did she ask why the FBI and other Federal agencies participated in a Fedsurrection and then tried to entrap any Republican within a few miles of the Capitol on January 06?
And speaking of January 06, I don’t recall seeing footage of police being beaten with baseball bats. And, as I recall, the story about a cop dying after being assaulted with a fire extinguisher was a fabrication and this hoax was naturally spread far and wide by the media, because it fit their twisted agenda.
And, just because an activist judge wants to protect Democrat election fraud, why should the DOJ walk away from the issue?
This host is an activist and has no business being in the media. She is not informing the public so that they can make better decisions. Instead, she is propagandizing them.
What a beech.. She spent all her reseat time concocting gotcha questions instead of being informative for her news audience .
Jan 6 protestors were attacked by the Capitol police, as long shown on survielacne videos. Protestors responded in self defense. Why did she waste time hauling up all those big lies again – surprised she did not say five police officers lost their lives Jan 6.
Waste of oxygen.
She spent the whole interview dumping on Blanche & the DOJ, and then ends by asking why the investigation of a crime near & dear to her hasn’t been taken over by the DOJ via the FBI! Typical leftist mentality.
She only regrets not having time to ask her gotcha Epstein questions. Parse out what she actually did ask questions about? Total waste of primed time. Bill Barr, Jan 6, hypotheticals from her own fevered brain. …..