(AFP) – Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday defended investigations of individuals Donald Trump “has had issues with” and said only the president knows why his predecessor, Pam Bondi, was fired.
“We have thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now,” Blanche said at his first press appearance since being named interim head of the Justice Department last week. “And it is true that some of them involve men, women and entities that the president, in the past, has had issues with and believes should be investigated,” he said. “That is his right, and indeed, it is his duty to do that.”
Bondi was fired last week after reportedly drawing Trump’s ire by falling short in efforts to prosecute perceived Trump political opponents such as former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, said only the president knows why Bondi was dismissed. “Nobody has any idea why the attorney general is no longer the attorney general and I’m the acting attorney general, except for President Trump,” he said.
Blanche dismissed allegations the Justice Department was being “weaponized” against Trump’s enemies and alleged there was “weaponization” of the department by the Biden administration “the likes of which had never been seen in history.” “You had a president who was indicted four times by this department,” he said in a reference to charges brought against Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Trump was accused by Smith of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden and mishandling classified documents. Both cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
“What we’ve been doing for the past 14 months is changing this department,” Blanche said. “People say the president wants to go after his political enemies. No, the president has said time and time again that he wants justice.” Blanche also defended the firing of scores of Justice Department prosecutors who had worked on the criminal cases against Trump. “If you were a prosecutor and you were trying to prosecute your boss you have ethical duties as a lawyer that I think prevent you from continuing to work in that environment,” he said.
A number of career prosecutors fired since Trump took office have filed lawsuits claiming wrongful dismissal.
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