Attorney General Todd Blanche defended his loyalty to President Donald Trump during his first television interview since being confirmed for the role. He appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, where host Kristen Welker pressed him on how independent he would be from the White House.
Blanche, 52, was confirmed as attorney general on Aug. 8. He had been serving in an acting capacity since March, after taking over from Pam Bondi.
During the interview, Welker asked Blanche whether he could promise to run the Department of Justice independently of the White House. According to The Daily Beast, Blanche declined to make that promise.
Blanche declines to pledge independence from the White House
Blanche argued that promising independence from Trump did not make sense as a standard for the job. “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,'” he said. “No, I’m not going to pledge that, and no attorney general should ever pledge that.”
He said that if Trump asked the Department of Justice to go after violent criminals, being “independent” would mean telling the president no. “The president, I mean if I were to pledge that I will 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, not going to do it,'” Blanche said.
Welker also asked Blanche whether he would ever follow an illegal order from Trump. Blanche responded, “The president would never ask me to do something illegal. Never has, never will.” Blanche has separately addressed why the anti-weaponization fund stalled, telling reporters it never got off the ground in the first place.
The conversation also turned to Trump’s decision to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, some of whom had attacked Capitol and Washington, D.C. police officers. Welker asked how the pardons squared with Blanche’s pledge to protect law enforcement. Blanche said, “There is nothing inconsistent. The president’s pardon powers, any president’s pardon powers, are not limited.”
He added, “Every attorney general vows to protect law enforcement, including me. So no, I am not opining or in any way saying what President Trump did is wrong. Absolutely not.”
Welker then asked Blanche about Trump’s public criticism of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she chose to drop a case involving alleged vandalism at the Reflecting Pool. Blanche was asked whether he would act on Trump’s calls to revisit the case against former Olympian David Hearn.
Blanche said he would take Trump’s views into account. “Will I take the president of the United States’ view on something into consideration? Yes. Of course. And I hope every attorney general in history would not answer that question differently,” he said. Blanche’s confirmation also drew attention to his current standing as the nation’s top prosecutor, a role he now holds after years as Trump’s personal defense lawyer.
He continued by describing what he saw as the alternative. “Just let’s play that out. The president of the United States, the elected president of the United States, says something to me and I am supposed to say to you, I would say, ‘Nope.’ I mean, that’s not the way it works. I mean, the president is extraordinarily, every day he wakes up with one mission, which is making this country better. As it relates to me, making this country safer.”
Blanche said he pays attention to Trump’s public statements, including on social media, when they touch on Justice Department matters. “So if he has a view on that, he talks about it on social media, he talks about it when he speaks to the American people, that’s certainly something that I listen to,” he said.
Published: Aug 17, 2026 09:45 am