Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said he is developing “roadblocks” to shield President Donald Trump from potential prosecutions after he leaves office in 2029.
Blanche made the remarks in an interview with NewsNation released Thursday, the same day Trump announced he would formally nominate him as the nation’s top prosecutor, a post which requires Senate confirmation.
Trump’s former personal attorney, Blanche became acting attorney general after Trump fired Pam Bondi in April. In the weeks since, he appeared to solidify his standing for the permanent role, advancing probes into the president’s political rivals and approving a controversial settlement in Trump’s unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
In the pre-recorded interview, host Katie Pavlich brought up Blanche’s recent remark that Trump “absolutely” would have faced prison time if he had not won the 2024 election, referring to the four criminal cases brought against him.
She also noted that some Democrats have explicitly called for Trump officials to face prosecution after the next election — potentially alluding to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who told The New York Times in March that “people in this administration who’ve broken the law” should be “criminally prosecuted, civilly prosecuted.”
“Democrats have been talking a lot about what they call Project 2029, their plans to prosecute the president, administration officials, ICE agents after the term is up if they regain power either on Capitol Hill or in the White House,” Pavlich said. “Do you believe that’s a possibility, and what can be done to prevent this kind of political retribution from Democrats?”
Blanche, who was seated next to FBI Director Kash Patel, then delved into a lengthy answer.
“I believe it’s a possibility that the Democrats will go after President Trump, his family, anybody that knows him, anybody that worked for him. I think they’ve proven that to be true,” he replied.
“And what can we do about it?” he asked. “We can just keep on exposing when we learn about the weaponization that happened for many years, we can keep on exposing it and putting roadblocks in place so it never happens again.”
It’s unclear what obstacles Blanche was referring to, and Pavlich didn’t press him on it.
“I don’t worry about, for myself, what happens in the future,” the acting attorney general continued. “I worry about this country. I worry about Democrats, some Democrats coming out and actually already forecasting what they’re gonna try to do if they get leadership again, and that’s something the American people see too.”
“The American people saw them do it for four years and rejected it whole-handedly…that effort failed,” he concluded. “I would hope the Democrats would be a little smarter. They have so far proven themselves not to be, but it doesn’t affect the work that we do.”
Blanche’s criticism of Democratic efforts to target Trump administration officials comes after he advanced investigations into longtime Trump adversaries: former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump had previously openly called for both to face prosecution.
A Brooklyn Law School graduate who represented Trump in all of his criminal cases before his inauguration, Blanche has publicly expressed admiration for Trump on multiple occasions.
“If President Trump chooses to keep me as acting [attorney general], that’s an honor,” he told reporters in April. “If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor. If he chooses to nominate somebody else and I go back to being the DAG [deputy attorney general], that’s an honor. If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.’”
The Independent has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
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