Todd Blanche refuses to say the DOJ will act independently of the White House | indy100

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US attorney general Todd Blanche has sparked backlash after he refused to confirm the Department of Justice will act independently of the White House.

Blanche, US president Donald Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, was narrowly confirmed as attorney general earlier this month with a 50 - 49 vote.

Since then, he has already made headlines after refusing to say whether his government department would act independently from the president as is the norm.

Blanche appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press, where he was directly asked by the reporter, “Can you pledge that the justice department will always act independently of the White House?”.

“Well, there’s a big difference between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House,” Blanche responded. “No, I’m not going to pledge that and no attorney general should ever pledge that.”

The reporter pressed him on whether, if Trump asked him to do something that he felt “crosses a line”, he would do it.

Blanche argued: “The president would never ask me to do anything unethical or illegal. He never has. He never will.”

People had plenty to say about Blanche’s refusal to confirm he would act independently of Trump – none of it good.

“Actually that’s exactly what the Attorney General is supposed to pledge,” someone argued.

Another said: “The job of the Attorney General, and more broadly the Department of Justice, is literally to be an independent arbiter of Justice, not to be the President’s damn lawyer.”

Someone else argued: “Pretty amazing confession here by the AG. Still can’t believe he was confirmed. I guess he gets points for being honest?”

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