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This weekend, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed in a broadcast television interview that one needs to show ID to dine in an American restaurant and also that he has a substantial case against James Comey for taking a photo of seashells. This raises the question of what kind of lawyer Blanche really is, and more urgently whether he may be even more destructive to the rule of law and the Department of Justice than his predecessor, Pam Bondi. On this week’s Amicus podcast, former prosecutor Barbara McQuade discusses both of these questions with host Dahlia Lithwick. McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and a legal analyst for NBC News and MS Now. She’s also a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and a bestselling author. Her new book, The Fix: Saving America From the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government, comes out on June 2. Their conversation had been edited and condensed for clarity.

Dahlia Lithwick: You’ve said that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is potentially much more dangerous than his predecessor, Pam Bondi. Blanche seems to be quite aggressively auditioning for the AG job, and he also seems to be much less constrained by whatever the thing was that once constrained Bondi. Can you tell us why?

Barbara McQuade: The reason I’ve said he may be more dangerous is twofold. One, Pam Bondi was formerly the attorney general of Florida, a substantial job, a job that requires some management, but she’s an expert in Florida state law. Todd Blanche, however, came up through the federal system. He was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, which is a very fine office, and he then worked in Big Law for some very reputable law firms. And so I think his legal skills and experience give him some potency, that perhaps Pam Bondi lacked, in navigating the criminal justice system.

I also think he has demonstrated a level of ruthlessness and a willingness to file charges, even if he’s got to know they’re going to fall flat eventually. This has always been Trump’s MO. He can kind of win by losing—if you file charges against [former FBI Director] Jim Comey or the Southern Poverty Law Center, or try to charge members of Congress for creating a video that just says what the law requires, even if you are ultimately unsuccessful, you can show the president that you’re in there fighting for your guy, you can show the MAGA base that you are there representing their interests, and then you can blame some woke judge for not seeing the case your way.

It’s an absolute abuse of power, and it’s unethical. The principles of federal prosecution that govern the Justice Department say that prosecutors should bring a case only if they believe the evidence is sufficient to make it probable that they can obtain at trial, and sustain on appeal, a guilty verdict. It’s hard for me to believe—if I could get........

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