Fresh off his swearing in as United States Attorney General this week, Todd Blanche, the former personal attorney for Donald Trump, slapped down a “false narrative” from the media that the president might ask him to do something illegal.
Anchor Kristen Welker of NBC’s “Meet the Press” began by asking Blanche on Sunday: “Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House?”
The attorney general responded, “There’s a big difference between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case, and act independently of the White House. No, I’m not going to pledge that. And no attorney general should ever pledge that.”
“If I were to pledge I would be independent of the White House, what that means is that if President Trump says ‘I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country,’ which is what he has said, what you’re saying to me is I just say ‘No sir, I’m not going to do it.'”
Blanche continued: “So I will act with integrity. Our prosecutors will act with integrity. We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing and that’s what every Department of Justice should do.”
🚨 HOLY CRAP! AG Todd Blanche just MIC DROPPED Kristen Welker to her face for lecturing him
“I swore to the CONSTITUTION…this NARRATIVE that’s pushed by the left and media, that the president will pull me aside and ask me to do something illegal is a FALSE NARRATIVE, NOT TRUE,… pic.twitter.com/FFuWWIdKKh
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 16, 2026
Welker followed up by asking: “Well, I guess big picture if the president asks you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it?”
Blanche replied: “The president will never ask me to do something unethical or illegal or illegal. He never has. He never will.”
“I swore to the Constitution of the United States like every Cabinet secretary before me has done and like every attorney general before me has done, and so this narrative that’s mostly pushed by the left and pushed by the media, that the president’s gonna pull me aside and ask me to do something illegal is a completely a false narrative, not true, will not happen and hasn’t happened.”
🚨 JUST IN: AG Todd Blanche is taking ZERO BS from Fake News Kristen Welker
“There’s NOTHING inconsistent about that. The president’s pardon powers are NOT limited…do NOT forget that a few days before President Trump pardoned the individuals associated and who have pled… pic.twitter.com/v6GzF1sP3w
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 16, 2026
On “Fox News Sunday,” Blanche said President Trump actually “loves disagreement.”
“He wants to get counsel from all of his leaders, that is just that: counsel. It doesn’t mean you’re just saying yes to him,” Blanche explained.
“He and I share the exact same goals for this country. When it comes to the Department of Justice, it’s restoring the rule of law to this country combating crime.”
.@AGToddBlanche: “@POTUS and I share the exact same goals for this country — when it comes to the Department of Justice, it’s restoring the rule of law to this country.” pic.twitter.com/eg4dPweZI7
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 16, 2026
Watch Attorney General Todd Blanche’s full appearance on “Meet the Press”:
Follow Joe on X @JoeKovacsNews
