Blanche refuses to pledge DOJ will always act independently of White House

Attorney General Todd Blanche has declined to pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House. When asked about this during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Blanche stated that no attorney general should ever make such a commitment. He argued that a president is entitled to communicate priorities to the Justice Department and suggested that a blanket promise of independence could conflict with those priorities.

Blanche did claim that President Trump would never ask him to do something unethical, illegal, or that crosses an ethical or legal line. According to The Guardian US, Blanche said, "The president will never ask me to do something unethical or legal or illegal... He never has. He never will."

Blanche also stated that he would consider President Trump's views when making decisions, saying, "Will I take the president of the United States's view on something into consideration? Yes, of course." In a separate statement, according to Forbes, Blanche promised that the Justice Department would "act with integrity" under his leadership.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Hill, The Guardian US, Live Mint, Newsweek, Forbes — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.