Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: Anti-Trump prosecutors had to be purged from the DOJ

Newly installed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche lashed out at reporters for abiding the “weaponization” of the Justice Department during the Biden years and defended President Trump’s housecleaning, saying the president has a “duty” to set priorities for prosecutors, including going after those who hunted him.

Speaking to reporters in his first public remarks since taking over for Pam Bondi, who was ousted Thursday, Mr. Blanche declared a “crisis of fraud” in government benefit programs and said his department already is pursuing 8,000 cases.

He defended firing the Justice Department lawyers who had worked on cases prosecuting Mr. Trump in the time between his two presidencies. He said those lawyers were in an impossible situation of working for a man they had tried to put behind bars.

“What happened the last four years is something that will never happen again,” he said.

Public reporting has pointed to Mr. Trump’s unhappiness with Ms. Bondi’s handling of the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a reason for her ouster, as well as a failure to win convictions against Trump opponents.

Mr. Blanche, though, chastised a reporter who suggested the firing was Mr. Trump’s signal to the Justice Department to step up the pursuit of his detractors.

“Nobody has any idea why the attorney general is no longer the attorney general, and I’m the acting attorney general except for President Trump,” he said.

Mr. Blanche did say Mr. Trump is on firm ground in highlighting cases or action he wants the department to take, including against people “the president in the past has had issues with and believed should be investigated.”

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“That is his right, and indeed it is his duty to do that, meaning to lead this country,” Mr. Blanche said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office fired back at that notion.

“Trump’s acting AG says it out loud: The DOJ is there to target Trump’s political enemies,” the Democrat’s office said on social media. “A disgusting abuse of power!”

As Mr. Trump’s defense attorney, Mr. Blanche had an up-close look at the Biden administration’s pursuit of the once and future president. That included four indictments — an initial indictment and a superseding indictment on mishandling classified documents in Florida, and an indictment and superseding indictment on events surrounding the 2020 election in Washington — as well as assisting local prosecutors in New York and Georgia.

He said the press abided it.

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“When we talk about ending weaponization, as if that’s a bad thing for us to do. People in this room, OK, people in this room for four years — some of you, the same people — sat here with the last administration when you saw the weaponization of this department, the likes of which had never been seen in history,” he said.

Mr. Blanche said the episode cried out for changes at the department.

Among those was the ouster of prosecutors and FBI employees who worked on the cases.

Mr. Blanche said that was not just acceptable but also necessary.

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“If you were a prosecutor and you were trying to prosecute your boss, you have ethical duties as a lawyer that I think prevent you from continuing to work in that environment,” he said.

Mr. Blanche said he is now firmly in charge, although Ms. Bondi is still helping with the transition.

“As far as Pam Bondi’s last day on the job, I’m the acting attorney general,” he said.

He called her a “great friend” who had made American streets safer.

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He said he would welcome being named the next nominee for attorney general but would accept whatever role Mr. Trump assigns him.

Mr. Blanche takes over just as the administration is ramping up its anti-fraud efforts.

The Senate last week confirmed Colin McDonald as the first-ever assistant attorney general leading a new National Fraud Enforcement Division.

Mr. McDonald stood with Mr. Blanche as he announced he would pour manpower into the effort, including asking each U.S. attorney in all 93 districts across the country to designate a prosecutor to the effort.

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“The American people deserve an end to the crisis of fraud,” he said.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.