Attorney General Todd Blanche appears on CNN to counter the leftist narrative advanced by passive-aggressive stenographer for the media, Dana Bash.  The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] Dana Bash – 0:00 Here with me now is Attorney General Todd Blanch. Thank you so much for being here this morning, sir. Uh, President Trump said, quote, “I am ordering the Department of Justice to look into this criminal act.” End quote. Are you going to follow that order and investigate Democratic members of Congress? And what is the criminal act you think he’s referring to?

AG TODD BLANCHE – 0:23 Well, what we’ve seen over the past several days and even over the past several weeks are outright threats. many many byele elected members of Congress and some senators against anybody that’s conservative and anybody that that happens to be a Republican. They’ve threatened donors. They’ve threatened uh individuals who are in college and might want to work for conservative institutions or for a conservative government or for President Trump. And that is extremely troubling and it should be troubling to everybody in this country. And over the last several days, we’ve seen it that rhetoric even rise up to the point where they’re already before they’re even in power, they’re already talking about investigations and impeachments with no basis, no facts, just out there running around. That that should be something that that President Trump is very concerned about and and certainly I am as well.

BASH – 1:07 Yeah. Well, they they are talking about investigation as part of their uh oversight role that is prescri prescribed by the constitution which which you know is very well um laid out. Is that what you’re concerned you’re concerned about something else?

BLANCHE – 1:23 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no. They have a very unique role in oversight. I agree. Have you been listening to the rhetoric the past couple days? You honestly think that all they’re doing is talking about their oversight obligations when they’re talking about going after basically every member of the cabinet. They’re talking about impeachments. They’re talking about going after companies, private companies who happen to have made investments in this country over the past couple years. That is not oversight. I welcome oversight. Oversight is exactly something they should be doing.

BASH – 1:51 So, are you saying that you are going to investigate them? And what you just described, is there a crime there?

BLANCHE – 1:58 Well, what I just des it depends on what’s said. So yes, there could be. You have free speech in this country. You you are allowed to be critical of President Trump, of me, of this administration. But when the threats become so vile and so dangerous that you are telling people in college that they better be careful if they want to work in the Trump administration because somebody will come after them, at some point you have to draw the line. And I’m not saying that necessarily that every case is going to be prosecuted. But we have a real problem if this in this country, if a young person in college is getting threatened by a United States senator that if they go to work for President Trump, they’re going to be subjected to investigations and lawyers. You have an incoming chairman threatening without they’re not even in charge yet saying lawyer up to anybody in particular. So if that doesn’t bother you, if that doesn’t bother your viewers, then we really need to to to kind of wake up in this country because it certainly bothers me.

BASH – So, what Democrats uh argue is the record that you have so far in the Justice Department is um going after some of the president’s perceived enemies in court uh without success from James Comey to uh Leticia James, even a former Olympian who was accused of vandalism at the uh reflecting pool which was dismissed. So, how is how is the way that the DOJ is going after unsuccessfully the president’s perceived enemies any less uh sort of egregious to to use the way that you described it than than what they’re doing?

BLANCHE – 3:33 You selectively talked about three cases over the past as opposed to the th as ooo as opposed to the thousands and thousands of cases this department of justice has brought over the past two years. There’s a reason why crime is at historic lows. And while you can spend your time on Sunday morning talking about two investigations and two cases, one of which is ongoing, by the way, and and cases where, by the way, this Department of Justice dismissed the charges against that Olympian. So after after there was a charges brought and new information came to light, the charges were dismissed. So while it’s easy while Well, it’s easy for you to talk about. Well, it’s easy for you to talk about

BASH – 4:06 I’m talking about the in terms of politics and and perceived political enemies, which is what you’re bringing up here. But I do want to ask you about another thing that the president said. He said that the Democratic lawmakers are extortionists and they should be imprisoned.

BASH- 4:22 Is that a possibility?

BLANCHE – 4:25 Well, it depends on what the what the crime is and what they’ve done. But listen, what President Trump is talking about, and it’s easy, it’s easy to sit here and talk about the president’s truths without actually talking about what he’s responding to is you have members of Congress who after Tuesday have done nothing but threaten everything that’s happening in this administration. That is not governing. That is not leaving. That is not oversight. I mean, you have you have Steven Miller getting promoted to chief of staff and within moments, within moments, the leaders of the Senate and the Congress start threatening him. Okay, that’s not oversight. That’s not governing. That’s not leading. That’s actually a disappointment and it and it’s sad and and the president has every right.

BASH – 5:04 Let me ask you about that because uh my next guest is Congressman Garcia and he said that the new White House chief of staff, Steven Miller, should lawyer up. He did say that. You responded by saying the chief of staff already has a lawyer, the attorney general of the United States and the Department of Justice. So, I just want to clarify. Do you see it as your job as attorney general to represent anyone in the administration being investigated by Congress?

BLANCHE – 5:32 Wait, do I see it as my job? The Constitution sees it as my job. Just in every administration, the Department of Justice represents members of the executive who are brought in front of Congress. So, there is nothing unique to me saying that. Every attorney general in history represents members of the administration. And this idea that Congressman Garcia comes out and says, “Oh, no, no. Stephen Miller needs his own personal lawyer. I would suggest he read the Constitution. If he doesn’t have a copy, I can arrange to send him one. But the Constitution absolutely protects members of the executive and I am the attorney general and as that like I do every day, we represent members of the administration who go in front of Congress. That’s nothing unique to me.

BASH – 6:11 How how wide do you see uh that is that how blanket I should say is that for example if the defense secretary Pete Hegseth faces impeachment charges would you represent him?

BLANCHE – 6:25 Well yeah this has happened before. So we can all look at history. You don’t have to you know when you ask me that you’re ignoring history and including recent history. Yes. The Department of Justice actively defends. Now some might get their own lawyer. It might be a combination of private counsel and government counsel. My job as the attorney general is, among other things, is to defend the administration. We do that in court in all sorts of ways. And I will tell you, if Steven Miller, if they try to come after Steven Miller for these whatever it is that Garcia thinks he’s going to do, instead of actually just conducting oversight and leading, of course, the Department of Justice will be there to defend him, just like if they went after any cabinet secretary or any person in government. We do it all the time. Department of Justice lawyers represent members of the executive. and and the fact that that Congressman Garcia is critical of that shows a remarkable lack of understanding of how government works and I would be very worried if I was a member on that committee.

BASH – 7:17 Mr. Attorney General Calley Means who was a top federal health official, he just resigned from the Trump administration. He’s accusing Susie Wilds, the president’s now former chief of staff, of blocking certain health policies because of lobbying by her former firm. and he says that she put political fundraising over public health. Are you concerned about it? Are/is this something you’ll look into?

7:43 Something that someone says on a podcast? No, I do not listen to that. Absolutely not. Susie Wiles did an extraordinary job, not only as chief of staff, but as a leader in working with President Trump for the past several years. And the fact that a disgruntled former uh former administration official comes out and says something against whether it’s chief of staffs or somebody else, that cannot be something that causes me to react in any way. She did your extraordinary ally on Capitol Hill called it corruption. But you don’t think so?

BLANCHE – 8:14 When you say my ally, what do you mean by that?

BASH – 8:16 Your fellow Republican.

BASH – 8:18 Your fellow Republican?

BLANCHE – 8:19 My fellow Republican? I’m the No, I’m the attorney general of the United States.

BLANCHE – 8:24 to some podcast. No, wait, wait, wait. You totally say, are you There was a podcaster. There was somebody who went on a podcast and said that Susie Wiles put some other priorities over the president. I could not disagree with that more. And so, listen, I say that as the attorney general. I don’t know if others have a different view. If if a senator who happens to be Republican thinks something differently, that is certainly their right. I don’t share it.

BASH – 8:46 Yeah. Um, it was a now former senior member of of your administration going on, Joe Rogan and and and other places as well. I I appreciate you being on this morning. Thank you so much, Mr. Attorney General.