2026-08-16T20:34:09.938Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/16/politics/todd-blanche-trump-administration
美国司法部长托德·布兰奇周日拒绝承诺始终独立于白宫行事，这引发了批评人士的担忧，他们认为司法部正在执行唐纳德·特朗普总统的政治议程。
“不，我不会做出这样的承诺，任何司法部长都永远不该做出这样的承诺，”布兰奇在接受美国全国广播公司（NBC）克里斯汀·韦尔克的《与媒体见面》节目采访时表示。他随后补充称，特朗普从未也绝不会要求他越过法律或道德红线，司法部将“毫无畏惧、不偏不倚地提起诉讼”。
布兰奇曾是特朗普的私人辩护律师，自4月起以代理身份履职，并于上周获得参议院确认。他还暗示，在具体的起诉决策中会考虑总统的观点。
“每个美国人在起诉过程中都有发言权……所以不管特朗普总统是否应该有，用引号括起来的‘发言权’，这要看情况，但答案是肯定的，”当被问及鉴于特朗普呼吁重新调查哥伦比亚特区美国检察官最近驳回的倒影池 vandalism 案时，特朗普是否应该拥有此类话语权，布兰奇如是说道。
“我会考虑美国总统对某件事的看法吗？当然会。我希望历史上每位司法部长对这个问题的回答都不会不同，”布兰奇补充道。
此前，针对总统的一些被视为政治对手的人士提起或试图提起诉讼期间，司法部一直面临着为特朗普谋取政治利益的指控，例如前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米和纽约州司法部长莱蒂西亚·詹姆斯。
但在《与媒体见面》以及随后接受《福克斯新闻周日》采访时，布兰奇坚称他有能力与特朗普持不同意见。
“总统喜欢不同意见，”布兰奇在接受福克斯采访时表示。
“他希望从所有领导那里获得的就是建议——仅此而已。这并不意味着你要对他言听计从，”布兰奇说，并补充称特朗普会“期望”他坦诚表达自己的真实想法，即便司法部长与其意见相左。
“外界对特朗普总统存在一种误解——以为他早上醒来就会给我打电话说‘托德，去起诉这个人’。这绝对不是事实。”
布兰奇在NBC的采访中拒绝透露是否应如特朗普所呼吁的那样，让哥伦比亚特区美国检察官珍妮妮·皮罗重新调查倒影池案，但他表示自己支持皮罗，特朗普也同样支持她，尽管特朗普曾考虑过解雇她。
“我绝对支持美国检察官皮罗，特朗普总统也是如此。这与总统对该案的处理结果感到极度沮丧是两码事，我绝不会因此指责他。”
但布兰奇也为皮罗辩护，称她“工作表现极为出色”，并补充道，“仅根据当时掌握的证据就仅凭一桩案件评判她，这并不公平。”
在特朗普第二任期的重点议题——选举诚信方面，布兰奇告诉NBC，本届政府可能会请求最高法院就其在今年中期选举前从各州获取选民名册的举措作出裁决。
特朗普要求各州移交未编辑的选民名册和其他敏感信息——这是本届政府干预联邦选举举措的一部分，而这一举措的根源是特朗普长期以来毫无根据的断言，称2020年大选被窃取。
本届政府已起诉了约30个拒绝向政府公开选民名册接受审查的州，但在法庭上屡屡败诉。
当被问及是否会就这些法庭败诉向最高法院提起上诉时，布兰奇称这是“一种可能性”。
“当然，这是一种可能性，”布兰奇告诉韦尔克。
“选举诚信是特朗普总统竞选时的承诺，美国民众也选举了他。这是每个美国人都应该关心的事情，”这位司法部长补充道。
布兰奇重申，曾威胁阻碍其提名的特朗普“反武器化”基金已“夭折”，但他补充称，仍有相关程序可供认为自己被政府不公对待的个人寻求赔偿，同时拒绝保证不会将2021年1月6日的骚乱参与者纳入其中。
“任何认为自己遭到联邦政府不公对待的人都可以提起诉讼，不只是与1月6日事件相关的人，”布兰奇说。
“我不会坐在这里的新闻节目中，断言某起可能发生或不会发生的诉讼能否获得赔偿，”他补充道。
“我能说的是，数十年来一直有这样的程序：任何认为自己遭到不公对待，或联邦政府对其犯下侵权行为的人，都可以寻求救济。”
在威胁阻碍布兰奇的司法部长提名后，司法部正式废除了原本将惠及那些声称遭到联邦政府不当对待的人的“反武器化”基金。
Blanche declines to pledge independence from the White House
2026-08-16T20:34:09.938Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/16/politics/todd-blanche-trump-administration
Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday declined to commit to always acting independently of the White House, a concern among critics who worry the Justice Department is carrying out President Donald Trump’s political agenda.
“No, I’m not going to pledge that, and no attorney general should ever pledge that,” Blanche told NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” going on to say Trump has not and never will ask him to cross a legal or ethical line and that the Justice Department will “prosecute without fear or any sort of favor.”
Blanche — Trump’s former personal defense attorney who was confirmed by the Senate last weekend after serving in an acting capacity since April — also suggested he’d take the president’s views into account in individual prosecution decisions.
“Every American has a voice in prosecutions… So whether President Trump should have a, quote, voice, it depends, but yes,” Blanche said when pressed on whether Trump should ever have such a say in light of the president’s call to revisit the Reflecting Pool vandalism case that the US Attorney for the District of Columbia recently dismissed.
“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,” Blanche added.
The Justice Department has faced accusations of political dealing on Trump’s behalf amid indictments or attempted indictments against some of the president’s perceived political enemies, such as former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
But during the “Meet the Press” interview and a separate interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Blanche insisted he has the ability to disagree with Trump.
“The president loves disagreement,” Blanche told Fox.
“He wants to get counsel from all of his leaders that is just that – counsel. It doesn’t mean you’re saying yes to him,” Blanche said, adding that Trump would “expect” him to tell him his honest feelings, even if the attorney general disagreed.
“There’s that misnomer about President Trump – which is that he wakes up in the morning, calls me up, and says ‘Todd, go prosecute this.’ That’s absolutely not the case.”
Blanche on NBC declined to say whether DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro should revisit the Reflecting Pool case, as Trump has called for, but said he supports her and so does Trump, who had considered firing her.
“I absolutely support US attorney Pirro, as does President Trump. Now that’s different than whether the president is extraordinarily frustrated at what happened in that case, and I don’t in any way fault him for that.”
But Blanche also defended Pirro, saying she’s “doing a phenomenal job,” adding, “and I think judging her on a single case because of the evidence that we had is not fair.”
On an issue that Trump has made a focus of his second term — election integrity — Blanche told NBC the administration may ask the Supreme Court to decide on its efforts to obtain voter rolls from states ahead of this year’s midterms.
Trump has demanded states turn over unredacted voter rolls and other sensitive information — part of the administration’s efforts to insert itself in federal elections that was fueled by Trump’s longstanding and baseless assertions that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
The administration has sued roughly 30 states that have refused to open their voter rolls to administration scrutiny, but has frequently lost in court.
Asked whether he would appeal those court losses to the Supreme Court, Blanche said it was a “possibility.”
“Absolutely, it’s a possibility,” Blanche told Welker.
“Election integrity is something that President Trump ran on, and the American people elected him. It’s something that every American should care about,” the attorney general added.
Blanche reiterated that Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund — which had threatened to derail his confirmation — is “dead,” but added that there remain processes in place for individuals who think they were wronged by the government to seek compensation, declining to guarantee that wouldn’t include January 6, 2021, rioters.
“Well, anybody can file a claim against the federal government, not just anybody associated with January 6,” Blanche said.
“I’m not going to sit here and say on a news program whether a litigation that may or may not happen will result in money,” he added.
“I can’t do that. So, what I will say is that there’s a process in place for decades where somebody that believes they’ve been wronged, or a tort’s been committed against them by the federal government, can seek redress.”
The Justice Department formally rescinded the “anti-weaponization” fund that would have benefitted those who claimed they were mistreated by the federal government after it threatened to imperil Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general.
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