Appearing on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on August 16, 2026, Attorney General Todd Blanche admitted that he has abandoned the principle that has guided the Justice Department since Watergate.

Asked if he would pledge to act independently of the White House, he said: “No, I’m not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should make that pledge.”

He is tragically wrong. Blanche has forgotten that he works for all Americans, not the single man he refers to as “the boss.”

Blanche might consider this: Trump is a fickle friend who can quickly become a fierce foe.

In the near term, he’s angling to thwart the midterm elections in which Republicans are poised to lose President Donald Trump’s death grip on Congress. In the long run, the nation will bear the consequences of his weaponization of the Justice Department for years to come.

Blanche’s Pursuit of Trump’s Retribution Agenda

Attorney General Pam Bondi failed in her valiant efforts to satisfy Trump’s obsession to punish all of his perceived enemies. Her most visible failures involved former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Career prosecutors at the Department of Justice (DOJ) found the evidence insufficient to indict Comey for posting a photograph of seashells forming “86 46” on a North Carolina beach. US Attorney Eric Siebert—whom Trump had nominated—recommended against charging him.

Career prosecutors likewise informed Siebert that the evidence was insufficient to indict James, who had won a civil fraud case against Trump and his organization.

Trump didn’t care that experienced prosecutors found the claims against his targets wanting. In a social media post that he intended as a private message to then-Attorney General Bondi, Trump told her to get moving against Comey and James. Trump urged Bondi to give the job to Lindsay Halligan, an unqualified White House staff attorney whose prior experience consisted primarily of defending insurance companies against homeowners and corporate plaintiffs.

Bondi obeyed, and Halligan used dubious tactics to obtain indictments of Comey and James. But a federal court dismissed the indictments, ruling that Halligan’s appointment had been illegal from the outset.

Two weeks after dismissal of James’ indictment, the Justice Department tried again. In a remarkable rebuke, the grand jury refused.

On April 1, 2026, Trump fired Bondi.

With Bondi’s departure, then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche—Trump’s personal defense counsel between his two presidential terms—became acting AG. Before the month ended, Blanche had secured Comey’s re-indictment.

Five weeks later, Trump said that he would nominate Blanche as Bondi’s permanent replacement. On August 8, 2026, he was confirmed on a 50-49 Senate vote.

Long before his confirmation, Blanche had moved quickly to please “his boss.” Here’s a sample:

In July 2025, Blanche was involved with senior White House staff in the Situation Room to develop strategies minimizing the ongoing damage to Trump personally from the Epstein files.

In March 2026, he boasted that the Justice Department had rid itself of more than 200 career prosecutors and FBI agents—anyone “who had anything to do with prosecuting Trump.”

In May 2026, he alone signed the document that—contrary to federal law—gave Trump and his family immunity from Internal Revenue Service investigations in return for settling Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS that a federal judge found to be a sham.........

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