As Election Nears, Blanche Won’t Pledge Independence.
The Attorney General says the President’s view can factor into prosecutions. Four days after a federal judge warned his department about contempt over the Epstein documents, neither man has put a word of it in writing.
Todd Blanche will not promise that the Justice Department acts independently of the President. Asked exactly that, the Attorney General answered: “No, I’m not going to pledge that, and no attorney general should ever pledge that.” Trump’s view can factor into who his department prosecutes, he said. The interview aired over the weekend and the New York Times carried it on Monday.
Blanche used the same interview to declare the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund dead. He backed his own US attorney in Washington for dropping the Lincoln Memorial case. He defended both in the same conversation in which he refused to say that Trump stays out of his prosecutions.
Emmet Sullivan is waiting on him. On Thursday the federal judge warned Blanche’s department from the bench that contempt was on the table. Sullivan wants the Epstein documents. Blanche’s department has not handed them over.
Four days later, the docket in that case carries one line from Thursday. A status conference was held. Arguments were heard.
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